Eid spends indicate better festive season ahead

Card transactions during the Eid weekend grew 46 per cent and those on specialty food items by 89 per cent, indicating a good festive season ahead. Eid and Onam are indicators of the spending pattern for the festive season in the second half of the year.

The data on card transactions during the Eid weekend shows a surge in spending. The Eid weekend recorded an average transaction growth of 46 per cent in volume terms and 35 per cent in value terms. Among different categories, the highest growth was recorded in specialty food items like baked products, sweets and confectionery.

The card transaction in such specialty stores grew by 89 per cent in volume terms and 86 per cent in value terms. Grocery chains and supermarkets too witnessed 63 per cent growth in volume and 50 per cent growth in value.

Even food delivery apps witnessed considerable growth in orders during the Ramzan season. Most of them received increased orders during dinner time.

“This increase in numbers was seen the most with Biryani orders. We saw an increase in the number of consumers ordering ‘haleem,’ given the Ramzan month,” said an Uber Eats spokesperson.

“The weekend of Eid saw an 89 per cent jump in card transactions over Eid 2017 in categories like bakeries, confectioneries and sweets stores, reflecting the festival spirit when people gift sweets and confectionery items,” said Deepak Chandnani, managing director at Worldline South Asia & Middle East and MRL Posnet.

Worldline also finds that this could be an indicator of the spending pattern during the festive season this year. Last year, the festive season sales in several categories were shrouded by the confusion in the market post the introduction of GST. The demonetisation effect too had not worn out fully then.

According to Naveen Trivedi, assistant vice-president, institutional equity, at HDFC Securities, general consumption is improving and hence the festive season should be better this year compared to last year.

This growth also emphasises the increased use and acceptance of card payments. Credit cards contributed to 36 per cent of transactions and debit cards accounted for the remaining 64 per cent. This was in line with the average transactions across both credit and debit card segments seen so far this year.

Post demonetisation, credit card share had fallen and debit card transactions had gone up as people were using cards for smaller transactions due to scarcity of cash. The reversal of the pattern indicates normalcy in financial transactions.

“Credit cards are making a comeback compared to the immediate period post demonetisation when their share fell to around 25 per cent of card transactions,” said Chandnani.