Mumbai topped with consistently high expenditures on insurance across time periods, CRED said
e-commerce spends surpassed pre COVID-19 levels in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru as more people went online for their discretionary and non-discretionary needs, a report by credit card bill payment platform CRED revealed. The report, based on an analysis of credit card spending patterns of over three million members in the three cities, takes February spending as a baseline and compares it to spends in subsequent months.
"Delhi spends grew to 135 percent, Mumbai at 133 percent and Bengaluru at 124 percent," CRED said.
More individuals opted to shop online for their discretionary and non-discretionary needs during the lockdown period. They continued to order online after the lockdown as well, indicating a larger behavioural trend, the report said. The Centre had imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 25 to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Founder and CEO of CRED, Kunal Shah, said, "While the trend stemmed out of necessity, the convenience, safety and accessibility of digital medium have led to a sustained behavioural change."
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Online grocery spends surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels in both May-June and June-July periods. The highest recorded spike across categories and time periods was witnessed in Mumbai during the lockdown when spends on online grocery spiked a whopping 147 percent compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, or nearly 1.5 times, it stated.
The study also noted that insurance spends during the onset of the lockdown were close to pre-COVID-19 spends. However, during the May-June period, spending spiked across all three cities and surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels. These stabilised but remained high during the unlock period.
Mumbai topped with consistently high expenditures on insurance across time periods, CRED said. Additionally, credit card spends on wallet top-ups were relatively high during and post the lockdown across all the three cities, indicating a preference for contactless payments.
(With PTI inputs)
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