Amid of the iPhone 17 buzz, chartered accountant Nitin Kaushik has sparked a debate by highlighting an uncomfortable reality — Apple could also be promoting the gadgets, however it’s Indian banks which can be laughing their solution to the vaults.
In a put up on X (previously Twitter), Kaushik broke down the numbers behind India’s love affair with premium smartphones. “Harsh Fact: iPhone 17 isn’t Apple’s goldmine in India… it’s the banks,” he wrote.
In response to Kaushik, the brand new iPhone 17, priced at ₹82,900, might see round 1 million patrons in India. Of those, an estimated 70% — practically 7 lakh clients — buy on EMI schemes. Whereas these schemes make the cellphone seem inexpensive, additionally they generate monumental curiosity earnings for banks.
Kaushik’s math exhibits that with a 12-month EMI at 14%, every purchaser finally ends up paying ₹7,443 monthly, shelling out a further ₹6,420 in curiosity. Multiplied throughout 7 lakh such patrons, Indian banks stand to earn a staggering ₹449 crore in curiosity alone.
“Customers suppose they’re ‘proudly owning luxurious.’ Apple makes the product, however Indian banks pocket a whole lot of crores in curiosity. You’re not simply shopping for a cellphone — you’re funding the banking system’s bonus pool,” Kaushik noticed.
The perception underscores how premium consumerism in India is tightly interwoven with the credit score economic system. For a lot of patrons, the iPhone is much less a logo of wealth and extra a mirrored image of aspiration financed by debt.
Kaushik summed it up bluntly: “For many Indians, iPhones aren’t a standing image. They’re proof of how banks monetise aspiration.”
Business watchers agree that the pattern reveals a deeper socio-economic shift — one the place luxurious consumption in India is more and more bank-driven, with lenders reaping large income by financing middle-class aspirations.
