Retailers urge phone cos to end 0% loan schemes
New Delhi: Smartphone retailers have suggested to brands amid soaring prices that instead of zero-cost payment plans that the industry is relying on to sell products, consumers should buy devices on regular interest-bearing loans. This will bring down the baseline prices of smartphones, they said, making handsets relatively affordable for customers.This is because zero-interest payment plans cost smartphone brands 17-19% of the product price which they bake directly into the retail price of the phones, thereby artificially inflating prices, the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) sa