Dashboard 04 · Paid Search Landscape
Eight of Twelve Fintechs Have Abandoned Paid Search Entirely.
Only three brands are actively spending in April 2026 — Slice, Uni Cards, and BankBazaar. Slice's post-banking-licence paid ramp, from zero to ₹5+ crore monthly, has fundamentally re-priced the channel economics for the category.
The Defining Move of 2025-26
Slice went from ₹0 to ₹227K monthly paid clicks in seven months, post-banking-licence.
In August 2025, Slice consolidated to slice.bank.in following its NESFB merger. In September, paid search began. By March 2026, Slice was spending at an estimated ₹5–6 crore monthly — thirteen times the category aggregator (BankBazaar) and eight times the next-largest fintech spender. Slice can now acquire full banking customers (savings, UPI, cards, deposits) where others can only acquire a loan customer. The LTV maths is different. The CAC economics follow.
The Participation Map
Who Is Actually Running Paid Search
Active Spenders
3
Spending at scale in April 2026
- Slice183,569
- Uni Cards28,759
- BankBazaar*13,810
Minor Spend
3
Token activity in April 2026
- KreditBee684
- Fibe773
- Navi168
Zero Paid Search
7
Effectively not using the channel
- Simpl, PaySense, LazyPay
- Jupiter, Fi, FREO, CASHe
The 24-Month Heatmap
Monthly Paid Search Activity, April 2024 – April 2026
Each cell = one brand-month. Empty/pale = zero or near-zero activity. Darker indigo = increasing spend. Lime = Slice's outlier scale. The visual immediately communicates how rare paid activity is in this category — and how dramatic Slice's post-Aug 2025 ramp is.
Strategic Archetypes
Four Patterns of Paid Behaviour
Banking-scale spender
Slice
Full banking licence enables CAC economics no pure-play fintech can match. ₹60cr estimated annual paid spend.
Aggregator defence
BankBazaar
Seasonal paid pattern defending intent-capture queries. Scales Nov–Jan, tapers through spring.
Dormant brand revival
Uni Cards
Deliberate paid re-activation after 2023 collapse. +663% YoY. ₹10cr estimated annual. Tests a playbook for any fintech reviving.
Abandoned channel
7 fintechs at zero
BNPL and neobanks have structurally concluded paid search is uneconomic. App-install and creator marketing replace it.
Semrush Traffic Analytics · Paid Search view · Monthly · Apr 2024 – Apr 2026 · India-scoped. Spend estimates assume ₹25–35 blended CPC for Indian fintech/banking.