About

Resume

About

Resume

Designing India's first micro-loan product for small merchants

Fintech platforms in India design loan products for larger amounts and longer repayment cycles. Paytm's merchants needed something different

Context

Why This Product Exists

Fintech platforms in India typically design loan products for larger amounts and longer repayment cycles. But internal Paytm data showed a different pattern; the majority of Paytm's merchants were low-income, small-scale business owners who needed smaller amounts, quickly, with short repayment windows.

This gap led to design a micro-loan experience built around how these users actually think and behave, not how fintech assumes they do. It also became a chance to rethink the existing lending flow entirely.

How might we design a micro-loan experience for low-income merchants that is easy to understand, transparent and trustworthy, and quick to apply for and repay while also improving the existing experience?

Research

UX Audit

I audited the existing lending flow screen by screen, mapping where users would drop off and why.

Lack of Loan Awareness

Users didn’t understand loan timelines, deductions, or required documents.

Overwhelming Landing Page

Text-heavy, unclear on benefits or eligibility. Users quit before even starting.

No Feedback During WaitTimes

No progress indicators at key steps, users thought the app had frozen.

Youtube Comments Analysis

The main goal was understanding the users. I explored real-world user behavior through Youtube. Many creators publish videos in Hindi and simplified English explaining how merchant loans works. These videos target users who are not fluent in English, are new to digital financial systems or who learn through easy explanations.

I analyzed the comment section of these videos to understand user tone, the language they communicate in and exactly where they get stuck.

Competitive Analysis

I looked at how BharatPay, CRED, and PhonePe handle merchant lending to understand the current landscape.

Bharat Pay

Bharat Pay

Quick onboarding, minimal docs, transaction-based approvals optimised for Tier 2/3 users.

CRED

CRED

Animations and gamified feedback make financial actions feel light and premium.

Phone Pe

Clean UI with merchant dashboard and multilingual support. Loans tied to transaction history.

User Personas

Key Design Decision- Photo Gallery (Product Detail Page)

We focused on increasing visual transparency to help students feel more confident in their choices by placing a photo gallery at the top of each dorm page that opens into a collection of student-submitted photos showing real rooms, shared spaces, and amenities to give a clearer and more trustworthy view of dorm life.

Design Process

The audit, the comments, and the competitor research all pointed to the same thing: users weren't confused by the loan, they were confused by the product.

I created wireframes to address key moments of confusion and drop-off in the flow. My main focus was on designing the landing page to clearly communicate the product and provide users with the information they need upfront.

I worked through quick iterations to test whether the direction was effective. By sharing these with product and business teams, I gathered feedback to ensure the solution was clear and aligned with the problem we were trying to solve.

Design Principles

Clarity over complexity

Clarity over complexity

Plain language throughout. Never assume users know what "tenure" or "EMI" means.

Education upfront

Education upfront

Explain what a micro-loan is before users enter the flow

Transparency builds trust

Show loan amount, tenure, and interest rate early before the user commits.

Wireframes

I created wireframes to address key moments of confusion and drop-off in the existing flow. The main focus was designing a landing page that clearly communicated the product and surfaced the information users needed upfront. I worked through quick iterations and shared these with the product and business teams to gather feedback and validate the direction.

Iteration #1 - Testing the information hierarchy

Iterations

Iteration 1 showed users needed more control over the amount and clearer financial details upfront which shaped Iteration 2.

Iteration #2 - Adding transparency and control

Reflection

What I learned

Design is about legibility, not just functionality

This project showed me that clarity builds trust and that even small decisions, from language to information order, can determine whether a user moves forward or drops off.

Design is about legibility, not just functionality

This project showed me that clarity builds trust and that even small decisions, from language to information order, can determine whether a user moves forward or drops off.

Research methods should match your users

Research methods should match your users

YouTube comment sections gave me access to real merchants describing confusion in their own words.

Data over assumptions

Using merchant help desk data to build the FAQ made decisions easier to defend and the design immediately more credible.

Next Steps

If I continued this project

Multilingual onboarding

Multilingual onboarding

Show loan amount, tenure, and interest rate early before the user commits.

In-context usability testing

In-context usability testing

In-person testing with real Tier 2/3 merchants on their own devices — to see where attention falls and where it drops in real conditions.

Reflection

What I learned

Design is about legibility, not just functionality

This project showed me that clarity builds trust and that even small decisions, from language to information order, can determine whether a user moves forward or drops off.

Research methods should match your users

YouTube comment sections gave me access to real merchants describing confusion in their own words.

Data over assumptions

Using merchant help desk data to build the FAQ made decisions easier to defend and the design immediately more credible.

Next Steps

If I continued this project

Multilingual onboarding

Show loan amount, tenure, and interest rate early before the user commits.

In-context usability testing

In-person testing with real Tier 2/3 merchants on their own devices — to see where attention falls and where it drops in real conditions.