Entertainment spending increased nearly 100% in 2 years, reveals CMS Consumption Report 

Entertainment in India is no longer a luxury as the average spending on media and entertainment sector in FY24 increased by 29.30%, reveals CMS Consumption Report 2024 titled ‘Unfolding India’s Consumption Story’. In the second edition of its annual trends’ compendium, CMS has highlighted the consumption trends and hotspots of India, driven by increased cash-based spends. It further pointed out that the average spending on the media and entertainment sector has increased by nearly 100% in a period of two years, that is from FY22 to FY24.

As per the report, Indians are moving beyond the ‘roti, kapda, makaan’ paradigm and increasingly spending on both discretionary as well as non-discretionary goods. The latter is endorsed by 16.76% annual growth in the average spending in the FMCG sector in FY24, which is a remarkable recovery compared to the 21.94% decline observed in FY23.

Talking about the report, Anush Raghavan, President, Cash Management Solutions, CMS Info Systems, said, “The Indian economy continues to be driven by consumption and we are observing a robust growth with evolution in spending patterns. The Indian consumption story is expected to play out robustly in the FY25, where sectors like FMCG, Aviation, and E-commerce would drive stronger consumption growth. The confluence of varied factors including increasing digitization, rising incomes, and demand for customisation would boost consumption in these sectors”.

Meanwhile, the travel economy is on the rise in India, which is validated by an annual growth of 6.36% in the average spending in the Aviation sector and 8.16% annual growth in Railway sector spending during FY24. Over a two-year period, from FY22 to FY24, the Aviation and Railway sectors have witnessed 27.42% and 56.35% growth respectively in average spending.Interestingly, the Indian consumption story is undergoing a transformation as evident by the slowing pace of decline in the e-commerce and education sectors’ spending in FY24. In FY24, average spending in e-commerce was at -14.61% against -25.44% in FY23 and average spending in education remained positively muted against -1.61% in FY23. However, metros continue to dominate India’s consumption spends in FY24 with 10.37% increase in average ATM withdrawals for spends. This is complemented by a 3.94% increase in SURU locations, closely followed by a 3.73% increase in Semi-metro locations.