India’s credit landscape undergoing a powerful transformation

India’s credit landscape is undergoing a powerful transformation. “While access has grown, value extraction hasn’t kept pace. Consumers now face hundreds of card options, varied reward structures, and complex redemption systems, but lack the guidance and tools to use them effectively,” says Ashish Lath, Founder & CEO, SaveSage in an exclusive interaction with Bizz Buzz.

Credit access in India has deepened significantly, but value realisation remains limited. What was the underlying consumer insight or market inefficiency that convinced you the timing was right for the platform?

India’s credit landscape is undergoing a powerful transformation. As highlighted in PwC’s latest report, the number of outstanding credit cards is projected to expand at a robust 13.8% compound annual growth rate, reaching nearly 210 million cards by FY30. While access has grown, value extraction hasn’t kept pace. Consumers now face hundreds of card options, varied reward structures, and complex redemption systems, but lack the guidance and tools to use them effectively. This leads to substantial value loss — over ₹10,000 crore in reward points lapsing annually — simply because people don’t know how to optimise benefits. Users end up relying on friends, scattered online advice, or biased recommendation platforms. We saw a gap between rising adoption and limited support infrastructure. This highlighted a clear opportunity for a tool that helps users understand credit, optimise usage, and convert rewards into meaningful financial value.

Many players address credit discovery or issuance, but few focus on utilisation. What part of that cycle did you feel was underserved?

Issuance and bill payments have received most of the industry’s attention. Yet, a cardholder’s real journey begins after the card is issued — in understanding benefits, tracking usage, redeeming rewards, and optimising spend. That layer of value utilisation remained largely unattended. Our focus has been on empowering users to extract the full worth of their cards — from managing points and expiry to activating features and optimising redemptions — an area that has significant potential to redefine consumer engagement in credit.

The use of AI in financial services is moving from automation to intelligence. How does the platform leverage AI to improve decision-making rather than just convenience?

AI in finance is evolving from basic automation toward advisory intelligence that can support more informed decision-making. Our assistant, Savvy interprets spending behaviour, reward rules, and redemption pathways to deliver actionable, personalised recommendations. By processing thousands of variables across cards and loyalty programs, we convert everyday spending into tangible gains.

Could you walk us through the funding raised so far and how this capital is being strategically deployed to scale the platform?

The company has raised capital in two rounds. The first, a ₹2.41 crore angel round in December 2024 followed by a recent $1 million pre-seed round in October 2025. We have built the product and acquired 200,000+ users with only ~₹3 crore deployed — focusing capital on technology, intelligence, and core infrastructure rather than aggressive paid acquisition. Going forward, we will deepen AI capabilities and scale engineering and product experiences.

The credit card rewards ecosystem in India is often criticised for being fragmented and opaque. From a user experience standpoint, how can technology simplify reward redemption and prevent value leakage?

India’s reward ecosystem spans banks, airlines, retail, and hospitality, each with different rules and expiry systems — making it easy for value to slip through the cracks. SaveSage simplifies this by consolidating loyalty data, assigning real monetary value, flagging expiry risks, and guiding users on when and how to redeem. The platform recommends the best redemption route — whether cashback, transfers, or vouchers — ensuring loyalty points act as a meaningful asset rather than an overlooked benefit.

The company has grown to over 200,000 users with strong retention metrics. From a category point of view, what does this signal about changing consumer behaviour in financial literacy and digital trust?

Our growth to 200,000+ users with strong retention shows a clear shift in consumer behaviour — from passive card usage to active financial optimisation. Digital-first users expect transparency, personalised guidance, and intelligent automation in managing money. Adoption across diverse customer segments — from students making every rupee count to affluent users refining premium card strategies — reflects rising financial awareness and trust in digital advisory models. Spending strategy is increasingly viewed as a core part of personal finance.

Could you share a consumer behaviour insight or case that captures how Indians are evolving in their use of credit and rewards? For instance, have you observed generational differences — between Gen Z, who view rewards as gamified value, and older users seeking efficiency?

Today, consumers treat credit and rewards with intentionality. Younger users explore and compare benefits actively, approaching cards almost like a strategy game — learning through content, chasing multipliers, and experimenting confidently. Older professionals and affluent users prefer efficient, structured support that maximises value without extensive research. Across segments, the shared motivation is clear: make smarter spending decisions and extract the highest value from every rupee.

Partnerships between fintechs and incumbents are deepening. How do collaborations with banks, NBFCs, or loyalty program providers enable platforms like yours to expand relevance and reach?

Neutrality is central to us — we don’t push cards or products, ensuring user trust. At the same time, strategic partnerships enhance reach and relevance. We work with wealth management firms that offer SaveSage to high-value clients, complementing investment advice with intelligent spending guidance. As the ecosystem matures, we expect collaboration to deepen — but always in a way that maintains objectivity and consumer-first decisioning.

As RBI pushes for interoperability and the DPDP Act redefines data norms, what shifts do you anticipate in the way fintechs handle consumer credit data and consent?

From inception, our priority was given to building a consent-driven architecture. Users choose whether to sync email data for card and loyalty tracking, and only credit-relevant information is accessed with clear permission. This aligns with RBI’s push for interoperability and the DPDP Act’s emphasis on transparency, consent, and user control. As regulations evolve, privacy-first design will become foundational — a principle already embedded in how we operate.

What’s your outlook on India’s consumer credit evolution — and how do you see your positioning as usage scales toward one million users and beyond?

India is entering a new phase of consumer credit maturity — multi-card adoption is rising, card penetration will continue to accelerate, and rewards are increasingly viewed as a legitimate financial asset. This trajectory mirrors mature markets where advisory and loyalty optimisation are standard. We aim to become the intelligence layer across India’s credit and loyalty ecosystem — helping users develop discipline, simplify complexity, and extract meaningful value at scale. Our ambition goes beyond the first million users — we intend to define and lead this category.