A new survey has revealed that nearly 65 per cent of households across the country plan to spend during the current festive season, while 35 per cent will refrain from doing so.
The longest festive season in India, which begins from mid-September and stretches till mid-November, is currently underway.
Riding on the festive spirit, manufacturers big and small are banking on higher consumer spending despite the high inflation and erratic summer monsoon.
To understand how household consumers are likely to spend during this festive season beyond their regular monthly household spending, the online community platform LocalCircles conducted a national survey which received over 58,000 responses from across 362 districts.
The survey revealed that of those who plan to spend, 49 per cent are likely to shop from stores and markets, while 38 per cent were likely to order online and get it delivered straight to their homes.
The first question in the survey focused on understanding how many household consumers are planning to spend this festive season.
"As a household, how much do you plan to spend during this festive season (spending beyond your regular monthly spending)?"
In response, it found that 35 per cent of the 10,992 respondents said that they "don't plan to spend anything this festive season".
Of those planning to spend, 3 per cent households said they would spend Rs 100,000 or more; 9 per cent between Rs 50,000-100,000; 15 per cent between Rs 20,000-50,000; 6 per cent between Rs 10,000-20,000; a much large number or 17 per cent between Rs 5,000- 10,000; and 9 per cent up to Rs 2,000.
Meanwhile, 6 per cent of respondents said they will spend but were undecided about the amount.
As the data shows, one in three households are planning to spend over Rs 10,000 this festival season. It is common for families to plan their major purchases like homes, automobiles, and jewellery, during the festive season as many consider it to be auspicious.
Attention must also be paid to the 35 per cent who said they do not plan to spend anything this festive season.
It is likely that many of the respondents in this category are experiencing a squeeze with high inflation, loss of livelihood or employment and are just getting by month to month, said the report.
The next survey question was: "What among the following will be most important to you when shopping/spending during the upcoming festive season?"
To this, 31 per cent of households said they were looking for value for money purchases and 31 per cent were for quality products.
The break-up of data shows that as the prevalence of Covid has dipped, people's appetite for going out and shopping is on the rise which is clear with the survey showing that 49 per cent of respondents are keen to visit physical stores and make purchases.
This is also largely the mode of shopping in Tier 3, 4 districts and rural locations.