According to statistics of the international holding Robocash Group, the average sum requested by borrowers in Asia has increased since the beginning of the pandemic by 46%. At the same time, the share of male borrowers and the average age of applicants has grown as well.
In Asia, Robocash Group operates in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. It has revealed that the average amount requested by Asian borrowers has grown by 46% since February. Obviously, coronavirus restrictions have reduced people’s income, and increased the need for additional funds. The underconsumption has become an additional incentive to borrow.
At the same time, the proportion of male applicants in the Asian markets of Robocash Group increased from 65.8% in February to 66% between March and October, and to 68.3% in November. Thus, amid the unstable situation, men look for options to solve current financial issues more actively.
There is an especially noticeable prevalence of male borrowers in India. There were 89% of them between February and October and 90% in November, which is explained by the socio-cultural model of society. An exception is Vietnam, where the number of male applicants decreased from 72% in February to 70% between March and November. However, this can be attributed to changes in the structure of new and repeated borrowers. The share of new customers grows proportionally, whereas the group of repeated clients remains predominantly male.
As for the age of applicants, on average, it increased from 31.5 years in February to 31.9 in November, which corresponds to the natural aging of the audience, a significant part of which are repeated customers. At the same time, the most obvious age increase was in India – from 30.7 to 31.8 years. This emphasizes that older population becomes more involved in alternative lending than youth, which is traditionally most consumer-active.
