Consumers to spend 43 percent less this Diwali: Survey

New Delhi, Nov 9 : Courtesy high prices of daily food items, coupled with education cost and grim job market scenario, middle and lower income families are likely to spend less by 43 percent this festive season as compared to last year.

As per the latest ASSOCHAM survey, the spending pattern of 1,650 respondents from various cities from diverse sectors like automobile, biotechnology, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), energy, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), information technology (IT), pharmaceutical, real estate reveals that there is a lukewarm response in almost all key categories from the shoppers.

Over 67 percent of the Delhi population from the middle and lower income group families said steep rise in the prices of daily food items, costly education, less opportunity of jobs and salary packages, will make their festive seasons dull this year.

Last year, middle and lower middle income families spent nearly half of their salary on Diwali. This year, majority of middle and lower families in the country will be forced to slash their festive spend by 43 percent mainly because of persistently rising prices of food items.

According to survey, about 56 percent of respondents said that they plan to spend less amount this festive seasons as the prices of food items have gone up, 21 percent, while around 15 percent say that they are saving for big purchase and around 8 percent said that EMIs have increased.

Only a small percentage feels that festivals are the time to splurge, even as discounts remain the biggest attraction for most buyers. Over 61 percent of the respondents said that if they plan to spend higher discounts will be the incentives for them, adds the survey.

On an average, only 42 percent of the respondents intend to buy mobiles, digital products, home appliances, electronics or automobiles, with consumers in the mega metros more likely to make the purchase compared to the rest. Young consumers are more likely to buy these categories, with 59 percent of respondents between 25 to 34 years expected to buy mobile phones compared to 48 per cent in age group 35 to 45 years.

The survey also reveals that during this festival season, sweets and food items (90 percent), clothes (86 percent), and gifts (53 percent) were the top three planned purchases of Indian citizen. After these, electronic goods desired to be purchased by 30 percent people. (ANI)