{
  "id": 14895577,
  "title": "Festive cheer is high, but wallets are tight",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/festive-cheer-is-high-but-wallets-are-tight",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-16T06:13:23.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times",
    "slug": "the-economic-times",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/smart-spending-indian-shoppers-embrace-caution-amid-festival-season-trends-2026/articleshow/134984013.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The holiday shopping season is in full swing, yet Indian consumers are being more discerning about their purchases. According to YouGov’s India Festive Shopping Report 2026, 26% of shoppers plan to adhere to their regular festive budget, shopping smartly, while 23% intend to reduce spending on non-essential items. Only 14% anticipate increasing their expenditure compared to last year.\n\nHowever, online festive spending may exhibit a different pattern. Datum Intelligence’s 2026 Festive Outlook predicts online festive sales this year to reach Rs 1.50-1.55 lakh crore, up from Rs 1.20 lakh crore in 2025, indicating a growth rate of around 25-29%. This projection suggests that consumers may be making more frequent purchases rather than spending significantly more on each transaction.\n\nClothing and fashion dominate the spending, with 47% of consumers planning to allocate the bulk of their festive budget to these categories. Groceries and sweets follow at 36%, while jewelry accounts for 27%. Automotive sales are also on an upward trajectory, with passenger-vehicle sales rising 21.8% year-on-year to 4,54,574 units in September 2026, and two-wheeler sales increasing 13.5% to 24,63,103 units. Despite this growth, FADA President Sai Giridhar cautioned that the 31.82% growth may be distorted due to deferred purchases prior to the GST 2.0 implementation.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}