City dwellers to splurge Rs 1.85 lakh cr, but top-tier may spend less this festive season: LocalCircles

Fetsive season to lead to Rs 1.85 lakh crore of additional spending

Splurging in the festive season is likely to reach Rs 1.85 lakh crore in urban India, shows the estimate by private survey firm LocalCircles in September.

Half of the 12,000 people surveyed said they will spend over Rs 10,000 each, with 8 percent have budgeted over Rs 50,000 each for the festive days, LocalCircles noted.

A Moneycontrol analysis shows that even at Rs 1.85 lakh crore, the spending will be rather muted this year, compared to what the city dwellers shelled out two years back. The 2022 version of the LocalCircles survey had 15 percent respondents in the Rs 50,000-plus spending bracket. Spending in 2022 would have likely been higher due to pent-up demand, said the survey firm.

In an earlier survey done before the Budget, the group found that 48 percent of the respondents were anticipating a decline in income this fiscal. “The July 2024 survey on household earnings and savings found that nearly 50 percent Indian households were undergoing a squeeze. We estimated that the total festival spending, including that of rural India, would be somewhere below $32 billion, keeping the figure largely similar to past years, instead of a year-over-year growth,” LocalCircles said..

The company arrived at the overall spending estimate by extrapolating data from the urban India survey done in September 2024 to rural India.

With the festive days coming close, e-commerce platforms have launched their festive bonanza with Amazon kicking off the Great Indian Sale and Flipkart the Big Billion Day Sale. LocalCircles noted that 13 percent of the population will use e-commerce platforms for spending, while 70 percent would like to spend at stores or in markets.  This ratio has also reduced from that of 2022. Some 33 percent of the pan-India population chose shopping on e-commerce platforms or using online catalogues of local stores in 2022. The proportion has now fallen to 18 percent of the population in urban areas.

Among items of spending, 70 percent looked for Puja and festival groceries as top spend categories, followed by home decor, beauty and fashion items and consumer electronics.

“This year, retailers including dealers of automobiles, white goods, and consumer electronics, are banking on a revival of consumer spirit despite the latest bi-monthly consumer confidence survey (CCS) report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showing that in July consumer confidence in India had declined for the second consecutive survey round, reversing a prolonged upward trend seen in the post-Covid period,” LocalCircles noted in a press release.

The company highlighted that budget and value still reigned supreme as top criteria for people looking to spend during the festive season.