In Mumbai’s hospitals, nurses work long hours under demanding conditions. At the same time, they are contending with an entirely different type of strain: financial stress. From covering emergency expenses to managing monthly finances and investing sufficiently to achieve future goals, financial worries can build up unexpectedly and make work feel even more exhausting.
SalarySe, a workplace financial health platform, is aiming to relieve some of this pressure. Created to help India’s salaried professionals manage, access, and grow their money, SalarySe combines easy low-cost liquidity access, financial guidance and management tools, tax optimization and investment products, and financial health scoring – all in one digital solution. Beyond expanding access to financial services, SalarySe aims to help employees build healthier financial habits, reduce financial stress, strengthen resilience, and improve long-term financial health.
Founded in 2023, SalarySe partners with more than 100 employers in India across sectors such as healthcare, education, technology, and business services, reaching over 1.5 million employees, primarily early- and blue-collar workers from low- and middle-income backgrounds. Leveraging AI-enabled tools and India’s digital public infrastructure (DPI), SalarySe integrates directly with employer payroll systems to deliver personalized financial solutions to employees.
HCG Hospitals is one employer that offers SalarySe services. About a year ago, they realized that financial stress was emerging as an important factor affecting employee well-being and started looking for ways to provide meaningful support. HCG leaders say what drew them to SalarySe was the comprehensive approach to workplace financial health, and the range of practical financial tools like salary-linked credit on India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), instant cash, financial literacy, savings, investment solutions and financial health scoring within a single platform.
SalarySe products and features
SalarySe’s suite of options provides employees with multiple ways to manage money across the four pillars of financial health – managing day-to-day expenses, saving for and investing in long- and short-term goals, strengthening resilience to shocks, and building confidence.
One of the most common challenges faced by employees at HCG was managing unforeseen expenses that arose before payday. In many cases, employees relied on informal borrowing from friends, family members, or local lenders with high interest rates, which could create additional financial pressure and uncertainty. SalarySe helps with this through its flagship Credit on UPI product.
SalarySe’s Credit on UPI helps employees manage short-term cash flow gaps by leveraging India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to provide responsible, small-ticket credit, allowing them to manage gaps in cash flow and cover emergency expenses without relying on high-cost borrowing options. If employees do not want to borrow on credit, they can use InstaCash, a SalarySe feature that allows them early access to a portion of wages they have already earned. SalarySe’s infrastructure is integrated directly with employer payroll systems, so employees can securely withdraw a portion of their already-earned wages when they need it, improving financial flexibility without disrupting payroll operations. Both solutions are a helpful way to build resilience against financial shocks, reduce financial stress, and avoid taking on debt from riskier informal sources. Furthermore, by utilizing the SalarySe app for UPI transactions or by using associated credit cards, users accumulate rewards in the form of 'SCoins.’
Employees at HCG can also take advantage of learning opportunities through SalarySe’s FinLit tool. Rather than a standardized financial literacy program, FinLit offers AI-driven financial literacy and personalized financial guidance based on the employee’s spending behavior, compensation structures, savings patterns, and financial goals. Employees receive simple, straightforward recommendations on budgeting, taxation, investments, insurance, emergency savings, and retirement planning to help them build stronger financial habits.
The platform also further strengthens financial awareness through UpScore, a proprietary financial health score called which analyzes spending patterns, savings behavior, credit usage, repayment history, and investment activity. This provides employees with a clear, measurable view of their financial health. By benchmarking their financial health score against peers with similar age, income, and employment, they also gain a clear and relatable sense of their financial standing, making better financial habits feel more concrete and within reach.
Beyond emergency coverage and learning, SalarySe also aims to help employees gain more confidence and encourage their financial resilience and long-term wealth creation. It facilitates access to tailored savings and investment products to encourage employees to put their financial plans into action and build long-term financial security.
From short-term emergencies to long-term security
These product features stand out as particularly beneficial for young workers like Vidhi and Glascina, two HCG nurses who are trying to improve their financial well-being.
Vidhi feels that financial security is one of the biggest benefits of SalarySe’s programming. The 37-year-old Infection Control nurse has worked at HCG Hospitals, Mumbai, for two and a half years. She found it difficult to manage unexpected expenses that arose before payday and was looking for support,so when HCG Hospitals introduced SalarySe, she decided to try it out. For Vidhi, the ability to receive credit linked to her salary has made a big difference in how she manages her finances. Previously, when an unexpected expense arose, she would rely on informal credit options like borrowing from local money lenders, friends or family. Now, she can access funds quickly when she needs them, without having to worry about complicated processes. SalarySe has also introduced her to different ways of saving and planning her finances. She now saves more consistently and has improved her overall financial management. As Vidhi says, “It has helped me feel more confident about my financial future.”
Glascina started using SalarySe because she needed help managing emergency expenses. The 27-year-old staff nurse and team leader in her hospital has worked at HCG for over a year, and she signed up for SalarySe right after she joined. At first, she was using the SalarySe platform to access funds quickly when she needed them, but over time, she says, “I discovered that it offers much more than that.” Glascina finds that the platform has helped her better understand how to save, manage her salary, and make informed financial decisions. One feature she particularly enjoys is the rewards experience, which encourages her to make the most of her spending.
SalarySe’s products have also been rewarding for HCG Hospitals. Employers have found that employees feel less stressed in the workplace due to their increased financial confidence. Their improved well-being ultimately enables nurses to focus more effectively on what they do best: delivering exceptional care to patients.