Care Pay Revolutionizes Healthcare Financing Through Zero-Cost EMI and Embedded Payment Solutions

In a country where seven out of 10 iPhones are purchased on EMIs yet healthcare treatments remain largely unfinanced, Care Pay is pioneering a revolution in healthcare financing. Founded by Nupur Khandelwal, this innovative platform is addressing the critical gap in India's healthcare ecosystem by providing zero-cost EMI options for secondary care treatments that are typically excluded from insurance coverage. By leveraging embedded financing at the point of care, Care Pay is transforming how Indians access and pay for essential medical procedures, making quality healthcare more affordable and accessible to millions.

The Problem: India's Healthcare Financing Gap

The Indian healthcare market, valued at approximately $370 billion, presents a paradox of immense opportunity and significant challenges. Despite substantial progress in insurance penetration, more than 50% of healthcare expenses in India remain out-of-pocket payments. Within this category, a staggering $40 billion is spent annually on secondary care treatments and high-value drugs that receive no insurance coverage.

The Treatment Delay Crisis

The most alarming insight that sparked Care Pay's founding was the discovery that six out of 10 patients delay or completely forgo necessary secondary care treatments due to financial constraints. These are not emergency procedures but essential treatments that significantly impact quality of life—including dental work, orthopedic procedures, IVF treatments, dermatology services, and other daycare procedures.

The Insurance Coverage Gap

Traditional insurance policies in India follow a hospitalization-first approach, leaving daycare procedures and secondary treatments uncovered. Even patients with comprehensive insurance find themselves paying entirely out-of-pocket for treatments ranging from ₹40,000 to ₹3-4 lakhs. This coverage gap creates a significant barrier to healthcare access, particularly for middle-class families who don't qualify for government schemes but cannot afford large lump-sum payments.

The Founder's Journey: From Corporate to Healthcare Innovation

Nupur Khandelwal's path to founding Care Pay represents a compelling narrative of corporate experience, entrepreneurial awakening, and deep industry understanding. Her journey began with a strong educational foundation—she is a chartered accountant and graduate from Delhi's prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).

Corporate Foundation

Her professional career started at KPMG, where she spent five years in the CFO and audit advisory arm. This role provided her with diverse experience working with companies ranging from ₹2 crore to ₹40 crore in turnover, giving her invaluable insights into financial operations and business strategy across different scales.

Leadership Development

A brief stint at Unilever's UFLP (Unilever Future Leadership Program) offered accelerated growth prospects, but Nupur quickly realized her passion lay elsewhere. The structured corporate environment, while prestigious, couldn't satisfy her desire to solve real-world problems directly.

Healthcare Awakening

The pivotal moment came when she connected with her current co-founder, who was building a solution for healthcare digitization—a problem that resonated deeply with Nupur's desire for impactful work. The timing was serendipitous, as they launched their healthcare digitization platform just months before COVID-19 hit India, creating unprecedented demand for digital health solutions.

First Venture Success

Their initial venture focused on helping doctors digitize their OPD operations, particularly digital prescriptions. Despite the challenge of monetizing SaaS solutions in India's healthcare sector, they successfully scaled to 25,000 clinics—representing 2% of India's total doctor market. This experience provided deep insights into healthcare operations and revealed the financing challenges that would eventually inspire Care Pay.

The Solution: Zero-Cost EMI Healthcare Financing

Care Pay's innovative approach to healthcare financing centers on a simple yet powerful premise: make healthcare treatments as easy to finance as consumer electronics. The platform's zero-cost EMI model addresses the fundamental barriers that prevent patients from accessing necessary treatments.

How Care Pay Works

The patient journey is designed for maximum convenience and accessibility:

1. Point of Care Access: Patients encounter Care Pay QR codes at partner clinics and hospitals
2. Digital Application: A simple, mobile-first process requiring minimal documentation
3. Instant Approval: AI-powered underwriting provides decisions in under 30 seconds
4. Zero-Cost Financing: Patients can spread payments over 3-9 months with no interest or processing fees
5. Direct Disbursement: Funds are transferred directly to the healthcare provider

The Subvention Model

Care Pay's revenue model demonstrates innovative thinking about healthcare economics. Instead of charging patients, the platform charges clinics a subvention fee—a flat fee paid upfront when treatment funds are disbursed. This model works because:

• Clinics typically operate on 70% gross margins for secondary care procedures
• Patient dropout represents significant revenue loss (₹40,000 to ₹4 lakhs per treatment)
• The subvention fee is often less than the discount doctors would offer upfront to retain patients
• It creates a win-win scenario where clinics gain revenue and patients access affordable care

Technology Infrastructure: AI-Powered Risk Management

Care Pay has developed sophisticated technological systems to manage the unique risks of healthcare financing:

Oculin Score: Merchant Risk Assessment

The platform's proprietary AI-driven scoring system evaluates clinics and hospitals on multiple parameters:

• Verification: Medical license validation and credential verification
• Reputation: Analysis of online reviews and ratings across platforms
• Financial Health: Assessment of business stability and financial practices
• Location Analysis: Geographic and demographic risk factors

Clinics must score above 70 out of 100 to join the network, ensuring only quality healthcare providers participate.

Karina: AI-Powered Patient Onboarding

Named as a short form for "Care Engagement Assistant," Karina represents Care Pay's commitment to streamlining the patient experience. This AI agent:

• Reduces onboarding time to under 30 seconds
• Collects and analyzes just 4-5 critical data points
• Provides personalized approval journeys
• Creates a seamless, checkout-like experience in healthcare settings

Multi-Stack Underwriting

Care Pay has built a sophisticated underwriting ecosystem that includes:

• NBFC Partners: Co-built credit policies with RBI-registered financial institutions
• Bank Integration: Partnerships with 14 banks for credit card EMI conversions
• Pre-approved Lines: Access to existing customer credit lines from major banks
• Healthcare Data Integration: Incorporation of 70+ healthcare-specific data points for better risk assessment

This multi-stack approach enables Care Pay to approve approximately 60% of applicants while maintaining responsible lending practices.

Market Impact and Growth Trajectory

Since its founding, Care Pay has established a significant presence in India's healthcare financing landscape:

Network Expansion

The platform currently serves 2,500 active clinics and has ambitious plans to expand to 10,000+ partner locations within the next year. This rapid growth demonstrates strong market demand and provider acceptance.

Approval Rates and Financial Inclusion

While Care Pay currently approves six out of ten applicants, the company is actively working to expand access through innovative credit assessment models. Interesting data correlations have emerged, such as lower default rates in IVF treatments regardless of traditional credit scores, suggesting opportunities for healthcare-specific underwriting criteria.

Treatment Categories

Care Pay's financing covers a wide range of essential procedures:

• Dental treatments (root canals, implants, aligners)
• Orthopedic procedures
• IVF and fertility treatments
• Dermatology and cosmetology services
• Other daycare procedures not covered by traditional insurance

Strategic Vision: Beyond Financing

Nupur Khandelwal envisions Care Pay evolving beyond its current financing focus to become a comprehensive healthcare payments platform. The long-term strategy encompasses:

Healthcare Payments Ecosystem

The goal is to make Care Pay synonymous with healthcare payments in India, regardless of payment method:

• Insurance integration and processing
• UPI and digital payment adoption
• Lending and financing solutions
• Comprehensive payment orchestration

Data-Driven Healthcare Finance

Care Pay is building sophisticated models to incorporate healthcare-specific data into credit decisions, potentially revolutionizing how financial institutions assess risk in medical contexts.

Provider Solutions

Beyond patient financing, Care Pay aims to solve broader payment and financial challenges for healthcare providers, creating a more efficient ecosystem for all stakeholders.

"For me, entrepreneurship is about creating an impact with what you're doing. It is not an easy journey for anyone. There are a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of times founder life is glorified and it looks very glamorous on the outside but it is not the case when you're actually doing it. So it is about doing something that you truly believe in and your ultimate goal is to create a large impact."

Entrepreneurial Insights: Lessons from the Journey

Nupur Khandelwal's experience offers valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those building solutions in regulated industries and complex ecosystems:

Impact-Driven Entrepreneurship

For Nupur, entrepreneurship fundamentally revolves around creating meaningful impact. She emphasizes that while the founder life often appears glamorous from the outside, the reality involves significant challenges and sacrifices. Success requires unwavering belief in one's mission and commitment to solving genuine problems.

Healthcare Industry Understanding

Her six years in healthcare have provided deep insights into industry dynamics:

• The importance of building trust with healthcare providers
• Understanding the unique economics of healthcare delivery
• Navigating regulatory requirements and compliance frameworks
• Balancing innovation with patient safety and care quality

Future Innovation and Market Position

Care Pay operates at the intersection of fintech and healthtech, two of India's most dynamic sectors. The company's approach differentiates it through several key advantages:

Embedded Finance Leadership

By focusing on point-of-care financing, Care Pay has established a strong position in the growing embedded finance trend. The QR code-based approach mirrors successful consumer fintech models while being specifically tailored for healthcare contexts.

Provider-First Strategy

Unlike many fintech companies that focus primarily on consumer acquisition, Care Pay's provider-first approach creates a defensible market position. Deep integration with healthcare providers creates switching costs and network effects.

Regulatory Compliance

Working with RBI-registered financial institutions demonstrates Care Pay's commitment to regulatory compliance, a critical factor in building sustainable financial services businesses.

Conclusion: Transforming Healthcare Access

Care Pay's journey represents more than just a successful startup story—it's a fundamental reimagining of how healthcare financing should work in a country like India. By addressing the critical gap between consumer financing ease and healthcare treatment access, Nupur Khandelwal and her team are creating meaningful change in millions of lives.

The company's success demonstrates several key principles for healthtech innovation:

1. Problem-First Approach: Starting with genuine pain points rather than technology solutions
2. Stakeholder Alignment: Creating value for all participants in the healthcare ecosystem
3. Regulatory Awareness: Building compliance and risk management into the core business model
4. Technology Enablement: Using AI and automation to enhance rather than replace human judgment
5. Scalable Impact: Designing solutions that can grow to serve millions without compromising quality

As Care Pay continues its expansion and evolution, it stands as a testament to the power of entrepreneurial vision combined with deep industry understanding. The company's mission to make healthcare payments seamless and accessible represents not just a business opportunity, but a contribution to India's broader healthcare development and financial inclusion goals.

In a country where healthcare access remains a significant challenge, Care Pay's innovative approach to financing offers hope for a future where financial constraints no longer prevent patients from receiving the care they need. By making healthcare treatments as easy to finance as consumer purchases, Care Pay is helping to bridge the gap between India's healthcare aspirations and reality.