Shopping Tips: How to spend sensibly this Durga Puja

The first step to managing your finances during Durga Puja is to create a realistic budget.

Outstanding personal loans are now worth 13.9 lakh crore, and considering the interest on such credit, they are a huge drain on people’s monthly finances.

In his monetary policy address on October 9, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said that some non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are aggressively pursuing growth without building up sustainable business practices, and risk management frameworks commensurate with the scale and complexity of their portfolio. An imprudent ‘growth at any cost’ approach would be counter-productive for their own health, he added, and expressed concern about the lending practices adopted by certain NBFCs, which result in more-than-healthy growth in unsecured retail credit.

Even though the RBI has recognised this threat and introduced various rules to contain this segment's expansion, it still grew 14 percent  in FY24. There are also 10 crore credit cards in the market.

As the long monsoon departs, come October, various parts of the country celebrate the arrival of Goddess Durga.  While the east celebrates Durga Puja, the west celebrates Navratri.

Shopping and dining start well before the festivities begin,  as ecommerce biggies like Flipkart and Amazon have their biggest annual sales in days leading up to the festival in order to capitalise on the overall buoyant mood.

India, which has historically been a savings-oriented economy, is slowly moving to being a consumerist country. Consider this — more than 2/3rds of the iPhones and a third of smartphones in India are bought on credit.

Further, the ease of using UPI has transformed the way we spend; however, a big negative is that since we don't feel the pinch of doling out cash, we may tend to go overboard with our shopping.

So, how do we ensure that we manage our finances well, and not let a few days of enjoyment make us regret our actions for the rest of the year?

Also read | Festive Splurge: 4 ways to avoid overspending this Navratri and Diwali

Prepare a budget 

The first step to managing your finances is to create a realistic budget. List all anticipated expenses, from shopping to donations and travel, and allocate a specific amount for each category. Sticking to this is essential to avoid any last-minute splurging.

One way to stay disciplined is by setting aside a portion of your monthly income for festivals. By the time Durga Puja arrives, you’ll already have a corpus ready, ensuring you don’t dip into your savings or emergency funds.

Also read | Festive sale frenzy: 5 online shopping traps to avoid this season

Segregate UPI-linked bank accounts

The reason we tend to overspend digitally is the lack of limits there. One great way to tackle that is by ensuring that we have defined limits both for our UPI-linked bank accounts and credit cards. The emergency credit card can be dormant, for all for practical purposes. This has helped many control their spends.

Don’t touch your emergency funds

Ensure that your emergency fund remains untouched during the festive season. This is meant for financial exigencies and should not be used for discretionary festive spending. If your festive expenses exceed your budget, re-evaluate you’re spending instead of dipping into your savings.

Also read | Credit on UPI: Convenient loans at your fingertips, but watch for pitfalls

Plan in advance; exploit non-seasonal offers

The majority of our shopping for clothes, etc, can be done earlier, during summer. Despite companies luring you with offers during this period, you often get better deals in the off-season and they should be capitalised.

Also, ensure that you spend wisely and utilise offers from relevant credit card companies in the form of points, discounts, cashbacks, etc.

All in all, plan well in advance, stick to a budget,  and don't eat into your emergency funds. That should help manage spends.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

The author is Co-Founder of Goalteller.