The EMI Files

step 1 / 7

store: i am b date: branch: gen z drop: 03 of many

Why that 0% EMI offer is never actually free

Seven interactive steps. Tap through Naina's new phone bill and find out what zero percent actually costs.

Everything glowing red is tappable. Start with the chat.

step 01 · the hook

9:41

N

Naina

online

step 02 · the guess

Before the math, take a guess

Naina bought a ₹24,000 phone on a 6 month No Cost EMI plan. How much extra, on top of ₹24,000, do you think she actually ends up paying?

Tap your guess

step 03 · do the math

Tap each charge and watch the extra cost climb

None of these show up on the big banner that says zero percent. Tap each one to add it in.

Extra on top of ₹24,000 ₹0

That's the real cost of a 0% offer. Never actually zero.

try it · your own numbers

Prefilled with Naina's phone. Change any field to check your own no cost EMI. The interest rate is just an estimate of what the bank would normally charge, used to work out the GST on it.

Item price

₹

Tenure, months

Processing fee

₹

Assumed interest rate

%

Extra you'd actually pay

₹0

That's about 0% on top of the price.

step 04 · the concept

What the banner says versus what the bill says

Tap between the two to see where zero percent quietly stops being zero.

Interest rate0%

Monthly EMIPrice divided by months

How it feelsCompletely free

This is the version on the banner, and it isn't a lie, it's just not the whole bill.

Processing feeCharged upfront, not waived

GST on that fee18%, also not waived

GST on the waived interestStill charged, even though the interest itself is discounted away

The interest column really can read zero. The fee and the GST sitting next to it are real money leaving her account.

step 05 · why it matters

Longer plans still say 0%. They still cost more.

Tap a tenure. The processing fee barely moves, but the GST on the notional interest grows with every extra month, even though the plan is marketed as 0% the whole way through.

Marketed rate

0%

Actual extra cost

₹0

Same phone, same 0% badge on every single plan. The only thing changing is how many months the notional interest, and its GST, get to add up.

step 06 · two versions of Naina

Tap between buying now and waiting six months

Gets the phone today, feels like it cost nothing extra.

₹4,000 a month is now locked in as a commitment, whether or not that month is tight.

Still quietly pays the fee and the GST leakage from step 03.

Her save first system from drop 01 has one more claim on it every month.

Keeps putting ₹4,000 a month into her own account for six months instead.

Buys the phone in cash once she has it, no processing fee, no GST leakage.

Waits six months for a phone, which felt like a big deal for about a week.

Once the phone is paid for, that ₹4,000 a month simply becomes a bigger SIP.

step 07 · the answer

So, in one line, why is 0% EMI never actually free?

Tap the real answer

the big lesson

Zero percent only means the interest column reads zero. The processing fee and the GST sitting next to it are still real charges, and they are what make no cost EMI cost something.

up next on i am b

Why a three digit number decides if the bank trusts you

Drop 04 opens up Naina's credit score, what actually moves it, and why that EMI she just took has already changed it, same tap through style.

{{PG}}
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