Consumption boom: How India will spend ₹14 lakh crore during the 2025 festive season; see full breakdown

The festive season sparks a spending spree every year. But in 2025, it is expected to be even bigger, thanks to income tax and GST reliefs. According to report by Bank of Baroda (BoB), total consumption spending related to festivals is expected to be in the range of ₹12 lakh crore to ₹14 lakh crore in the ongoing festival season.

A bulk of the spending is expected to be driven by clothing, weddings, electronics and automobiles. The report has excluded daily consumption goods like food items and other FMCG products while estimating the total spending.

Here's a look at key sectors where major spending is expected during the festive season, as per the report.

Indian are expected to spend nearly ₹2,80,000 to ₹3,00,000 crores on clothing and footwear in the festive period.

Top factors driving higher spending for clothing and footwear are the following:

• With the increase in online channels, including e-commerce, the readymade garment business has grown rapidly in both urban as well as Tier-II and Tier-III cities

• An increase in the proportion of working-age population as well as an aspiring middle class is also likely to impact consumers’ spending

• There is also a paradigm change in individuals’ spending behavior from need-based to a lifestyle-driven approach, which has led to an increase in demand.

"Taking all this into consideration and using the income distribution and propensity to consume of households, we estimate a possible expenditure of ₹2,80,000 to ₹3,00,000 crores on clothing and footwear in the festive period," BoB said.

Source: Bank of Baroda Research

Indians are expected to spend nearly ₹1.5 lakh crore to ₹2 lakh crore on automobiles during the festive season.

"On the back of the bumper announcement through the GST 2.0 reforms, automobile sector is expected to witness record sales in the festive season. Both PV and 2-wheeeler are expected to drive sales in Q3 FY26. Under the revised structure, tax rates have been lowered down from 28% to 18% as well as the compensation cess of 1-3% have been removed. This revision is expected to reduce rates in the range of ₹40,000 to ₹1, 50,000. This will result in an estimated sale of ₹1, 50,000 to ₹2,00,000 crores," the report said.

While GST rates under the smartphone and laptop categories have been kept at the default rate of 18%, the ongoing sale, especially on the e-commerce platforms, is expected to fuel sales of these commodities. The report expects around ₹1-1.2 lakh crore to be spent on smartphones

During the festival season, Indian are expected to spend up to ₹5 lakh crore on around 1 crore marriages.

"The festive period in India also marks the start of the auspicious period of marriages which is another added boost to consumption. Estimates suggest that on an average, around 1 crore marriages take place in India every year," the report said.

"Around 60% of these marriages take place in the Oct-Dec period. Based on this, and assuming that different segments of the population spend different amount on wedding related expenditure, we estimate marriage segment to lead to an expenditure of ₹4.5 lakh crores to ₹5 lakh crores," it added.

Approximately ₹40,000-45,000 crore are expected to be spent on sweets during the festival season.

"In our analysis, we have accounted for sweets consumed by households only, and not for the purpose of corporate gifting (that is taken separately). This incorporates demand on account of all the festivals falling during the Oct-Dec’25 period, and also includes packaged mithai and confectionery items (chocolates, cookies, frozen desserts, cakes, healthier alternatives), apart from traditional mithais. Using the census data and income stratification, we believe that this year sweets could see sales of around ₹40,000-45,000 crores," the report said.

TVs, washing machines, refrigerators and other white goods: On the back of GST rate cuts, Indians are expected to spend around ₹35,000-40,000 crores on white goods like televisions, washing machines, refrigerators and ACs.

The report said it has assumed a conservative growth rate and actual sales could be higher due to the impact of lower GST rates on these items. "In fact, in just a few days since the new lower rates kicked in, dealers and companies are indicating strong consumer interest. As a result, companies are anticipating strong double-digit growth in sales during the festive period," it added.

Indians are expected to spend up to ₹70,000 crores on travel, including airlines and railways.

"Our projections indicate that travel will account for ~5% of the total spending, amounting to range between ₹60,000- 70,000 crores. A bigger chunk of this (~66-67%) will be on account of air travel, primarily due to higher air fares," the report said.

Indians are expected to spend around ₹65,000-75,000 crore across various platforms for food orders.

"The festive cheer is expected to drive the dine–in and online meal orders higher. The online quick commerce platforms also note a surge in orders during this period. This is especially true, since there are lot of gatherings and people celebrate festivals together with full fervor. Online platforms noted an increase in gross order value (GOV) for both its food delivery and going-out business in Q3 FY25 compared with last year," the report said.

"Even the adjusted revenue has been higher for both these components for the same period. A similar trend has also been noted for other such platforms. This in turn, will result in an estimated sale of ₹65,000-75,000 crores across platforms," it added.

The report expected around ₹5000-10,000 crore to be spent on items like firecrackers, utensils, lights and flowers.

"In anticipation of higher demand during the festive period, the sales of various items such as lights, utensils, and flowers are also expected to increase. A similar sentiment, in terms of surge in sales is expected for firecrackers across the country. In addition to regular crackers, there is also high demand for eco-friendly and green crackers. An estimated sale of ₹5,000-10,000 crore is expected across all these items, during this period," the report said.