New Delhi, Apr 6 (IANS): Unified Payments Interface (UPI) emerged as the second most preferred repayment method for digital loans, while SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) is the most popular investment option for millennials, a new report showed on Thursday.

According to AI-based financial wellness platform CASHe, about 84 per cent of millennials prefer credit lines over personal loans (14 per cent) and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) (2 per cent).

"The report offers unrivalled access to a large sample of data covering over 5,40,000 millennials -- the insights provided here are valuable to policymakers, financial institutions, and researchers to better understand the borrowing, spending and saving habits of over 125 million credit-starved and underbanked urban mass of millennials," said V. Raman Kumar, Founder and Chairman, CASHe.

Moreover, the findings showed that satchetised loans (short-term, small ticket-size loans) of less than Rs 10,000 were preferred by 49 per cent of millennials.

Unforeseen medical and monthly expenses are the top two reasons for availing of short-term digital credit followed by shopping, home renovation, education, etc.

Bengaluru leads all the cities in India for credit demand followed by Hyderabad, Pune, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram, according to the report.

Further, the report said that 68 per cent of millennials seek assistance from financial advisors for making investment decisions.

However, 45 per cent of millennials trust social media as a prime source to make investment decisions.

The report also stated that about 37 per cent of millennials are still somewhat financially dependent on their parents, but a majority of 63 per cent of millennials are financially independent.

Over 33 per cent of millennials stated that they believe in saving 20 per cent of their annual income to become financially secure for retirement.