BNPL & Credit-Card Repayment Behaviour of Young Salaried Employees in Bengaluru (Survey, Excel/SPSS)

This survey project studies how young salaried employees (21–35 years) in Bengaluru use credit cards and Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) products, and whether their financial literacy explains how disciplined they are about repayment. Easy credit is now one tap away inside shopping and food-delivery apps, UPI-linked credit lines and co-branded cards. For a first-job employee earning ₹25,000–₹80,000 a month, that convenience can quietly turn into a revolving balance charged at 36–42% a year.

The study collects primary data from 100 respondents across four employment clusters of the city (Whitefield, Electronic City, Koramangala and Peenya) using a structured questionnaire with three parts: a demographic and usage profile, a five-question financial-literacy test (interest, inflation, compounding, minimum-due trap, diversification) and two 5-point Likert scales measuring repayment discipline and impulse spending. Data is cleaned and charted in MS Excel and tested in SPSS using chi-square, an independent-samples t-test, Pearson correlation and a simple linear regression.

The outcome is a 50–60-page report for the BCU BBA 5.7 Survey Project with clear findings and practical suggestions for employees, HR teams running financial-wellness sessions and card issuers. It is deliberately scoped for a beginner: one city, one questionnaire, four hypotheses and tests you can explain confidently at the viva.

Abstract

Credit cards and BNPL products have become a routine part of spending for young salaried employees in Indian cities. This study surveys 100 employees aged 21–35 in Bengaluru to describe their credit usage, measure their financial literacy and test whether literacy, income and impulse spending are related to repayment discipline. A structured questionnaire with Likert scales is analysed in Excel and SPSS using chi-square, t-test, correlation and regression. The findings are used to suggest simple habits and workplace interventions that reduce late payments and revolving debt.

Introduction

India's retail-credit market has grown rapidly since 2020. Card issuers, fintech lenders and e-commerce platforms now offer instant credit at checkout, often with a "no-cost EMI" or "pay next month" label. The Reserve Bank of India issued its Guidelines on Digital Lending in 2022 to improve disclosure, but the final decision — pay in full, pay the minimum due, or miss the date — still rests with the borrower. Young employees in their first or second job are the heaviest users of these products and, often, the least experienced in managing them.

Review of existing studies (gap)

Earlier Indian studies on credit-card usage mostly surveyed card holders in general or focused on bank service quality. Studies on financial literacy commonly use the OECD/INFE knowledge questions but rarely link literacy scores to actual repayment behaviour, and very few include BNPL, which is a newer product. A small, city-specific survey that measures literacy, usage and repayment together fills this gap at a scale suitable for an undergraduate project.

Objectives of the proposed study

• Profile the usage of credit cards and BNPL among young salaried employees.
• Measure respondents' financial-literacy score.
• Test the association between income group and late payment, and the relationship between literacy and repayment discipline.
• Offer practical suggestions to employees, employers and issuers.

Feasibility

• Technical: needs only Google Forms, Excel and SPSS (available in most college labs; the free PSPP or Jamovi can replace SPSS).
• Economic: costs are limited to printing a few paper questionnaires and travel within the city — well under ₹1,500.
• Operational: respondents are reachable through friends, alumni and office-park contacts; the questionnaire takes about 8 minutes, and data collection fits in three weeks.

Young salaried employees in Bengaluru are offered credit at almost every point of purchase — co-branded credit cards, app-based BNPL limits and "no-cost EMI" at checkout. Many of them are in their first job, have little formal exposure to personal finance and do not fully understand how the minimum amount due works, how interest is charged on a revolving balance or how late payments affect their credit score. As a result, a portion of users roll over balances, pay late fees and take new credit to repay old credit, while others use the same products responsibly and even earn rewards.

It is not clear which factors separate the two groups. Is it income, the number of credit lines held, the habit of impulse buying, or simply knowledge? Without evidence, employers' financial-wellness sessions and issuers' customer-education messages are generic. This study therefore asks: what is the pattern of credit-card and BNPL usage among young salaried employees in Bengaluru, and how are financial literacy, income and impulse spending related to their repayment discipline?

Geographical scope: Bengaluru Urban district — four employment clusters (Whitefield, Electronic City, Koramangala, Peenya).

Respondent scope: salaried employees aged 21–35 who have used at least one credit card or BNPL product in the last six months. Students, self-employed persons and people without any credit product are excluded.

Content scope: usage pattern, financial literacy, impulse spending and repayment discipline. The study does not examine lenders' interest-rate policies, credit-bureau algorithms or legal recovery practices.

Time scope: primary data collected over three weeks in Semester 5; findings reflect behaviour at that time only.

Limitations: convenience-quota sampling (not random), self-reported behaviour (respondents may under-report late payments) and a modest sample of 100, so results should not be generalised to all of India.

Research design

A descriptive-cum-analytical survey design — descriptive for the usage profile, analytical for the four hypotheses.

Population, sampling method and sample size

• Population: young salaried credit/BNPL users in Bengaluru — large and without a sampling frame (no list of card holders is publicly available).
• Sampling method: non-probability quota sampling with convenience selection inside each quota: 25 respondents from each of the four clusters, so that IT, manufacturing and services employees are all represented. The limitation of non-random sampling is stated in the report.
• Sample-size logic (Cochran, unknown population): n = z²·p·q / e² = (1.96² × 0.5 × 0.5) / 0.10² = 96.04 ≈ 96 at 95% confidence and ±10% margin of error, using p = 0.5 for maximum variability. The sample is rounded to 100. Allowing ~20% incomplete responses, 125 questionnaires are circulated.

Questionnaire and scale design

A pilot test with 20 respondents checks wording and timing; Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.70 is required for Parts C and D before the main survey. Content validity is checked by the guide and one bank officer.

Hypotheses and statistical tests

All tests at α = 0.05. Descriptive analysis uses percentages, means, pivot tables and bar/pie charts in Excel.

Timeline (12 weeks)