New Delhi: With most businesses around the country shut or operating in a limited manner as a part of one of the largest nationwide lockdowns, consumer spending behaviour in India has changed significantly since March owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s largest online wealth management app, ETMONEY has unveiled a first-of-its-kind report based on the analysis of spends data of its users from March-June 2020.
Interestingly, the overall spend during these four months has reduced by nearly 40% from that of last year, with more Indians adopting digital mode of payments and UPI being the most preferred amongst them. The report has grouped consumer spends into four major categories – household expenses, cash withdrawals, discretionary expenses & fixed expenses and sheds light on spends in each category.
Overall discretionary spending has come to a grinding halt with entertainment, travel and dining out/food delivery seeing the sharpest drop due to the lockdown, coupled with a general nationwide fear regarding income and health. Due to the shutdown of restaurants & a general fear among people regarding outside food, the spends in this category has taken one of the highest reductions during the lockdown. Indians reduced their spends to <20% of last year during the past 4 months.
For EMI payments, the dip in April could be attributed to the EMI moratorium facility extended by the RBI. Dip in rent is largely due to singles vacating premises and heading back home during the lockdown. Payouts for Insurance have also seen a dip in June largely due to increased premiums.
Speaking on the launch of the report, ETMONEY Founder-CEO Mukesh Kalra said, “As the nationwide lockdown has been eased, it’s important to introspect on how we reacted to this health crisis – both as a nation and as an individual. Except for the few consumers reporting a decline in income, or those personally affected by the crisis, net intent on spending has been largely conservative in the past couple of months. This points at a healthy intent to conserve and invest capital wisely in uncertain times and is a great move for the nation as a whole. At ETMONEY, we foresee a shift towards remote learning, online personal fitness and other hobbies acquired during the lockdown, with most Indians emerging from this crisis as savvier and more financially responsible individuals.”
