Pay Later, the next wallet

After wallets and UPI, if you are looking for that single-click convenience, Pay Later is the one. But will the regulator look at it that way?

Pay Later is a combination of a payment and credit product. Being a truly single-click experience, it could potentially take the place of wallets

Pay Later's adoption depends on its ability to use a mix of data to find reliable users

Simpl and LazyPay are deployed across merchants like food delivery where repeat usage among consumers is high

Its lack of a two-factor authentication system could bring it under RBI's lens

Every morning, like clockwork, MBA student Nandan Toshniwal opens FreshMenu and orders himself breakfast. While he always knows what to order, when it comes to payment, he pauses. Cashbacks draw him to wallets. But he’s often short. So what does he do? Enter Pay Later. One click, no immediate transaction, and he’s done.

Now, the 25-year-old runs an advertising company, and Pay Later has become a habit for him. “I have abandoned wallets. Pay Later is my default option as I have a credit limit of Rs 10,000 every week. On merchants where Pay Later is not available, I use my debit card,” he says.

AUTHOR

Arundhati Ramanathan

Arundhati is Bengaluru-based. She is interested in how people use money in the digital age and how new economies will take shape based on that interaction. She has spent over 10 years reporting and writing on various subjects. Previous stints were at Mint, Outlook Business and Reuters.

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