siliconindia | | DECEMBER 20258In the digital shadows of festive seasons, invisible forces lurk within smartphones, transforming innocent shopping excursions into tales of financial woe. These spectral entities, born from the fusion of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) systems and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) mechanisms, manifest most vividly during massive sale events akin to Black Friday spectacles.As virtual and real crowds converge on the lure of discounts too good to resist, these items increase the urge to spend money, and participants are often trapped in a cesspool of outstanding debts, reverberating long into the future once the celebrations are long over. This has been termed the Buy Now, Pay Later syndrome and it indicates how convenient it can be transformed into a curse, calling out a closer look at its workings and effects.The Festive Frenzy of Digital SpendingWhen the sales are high, online sales go booming. The urgency of UPI and the installment plans of BNPL make a tempting duo, the immediate possession of the goods and the reassuring delusion of affordable prices. Whether it is electronics, fashion or daily needs, customers are in a wave of limited time offers that have been known to go beyond their pre-established budgets.This is particularly in the case of the younger consumers who are mostly going through the first independent financial cycle. Even a light upgrade of a device or a food delivery that a person buys as BNPL on the spur of the moment can silently become a big business, becoming in the middle of the celebrations a kind of financial stress.EDITORIAL EXCLUSIVEBy Sejal Singh B G, Correspondent, SiliconindiaHOW UPI IS DRAINING HOLIDAY WALLETS WITH 'BUY NOW, PAY LATER' LOANS
< Page 7 | Page 9 >