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India Festive Sales Stats 2026: Diwali & Shopping Trends

Sep 18, 2026

Esha Saxena

India’s festive season is one of the biggest shopping periods of the year, with spending across e-commerce, local retailers, organized retail and quick commerce. Diwali remains the biggest shopping event, but the Indian festive season typically begins with Raksha Bandhan and continues through Onam, Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali. 

In 2025, India’s festive trade during Navratri to Diwali reached a record 6.05 lakh crore, including ₹5.40 lakh crore in goods and ₹65,000 crore in services, according to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). This is 25% higher than the ₹4.25 lakh crore recorded in 2024.

Here are the key India festive season sales statistics and shopping trends for 2026.

India Festive Season Sale Stats 2026 (Editor’s Picks)

• India’s festive trade reached a record ₹6.05 lakh crore in 2025, up 25% from 2024. 
• Festive e-commerce GMV crossed ₹1.15 lakh crore in 2025.
• Around 90 million shoppers made online purchases during the first 11 days of the 2025 festive sales.
• More than 70% of Amazon’s Great Indian Festival traffic in 2025 came from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
• Quick-commerce order volumes grew 120% year on year during the 2025 festive season. 
• Online Raksha Bandhan merchandise sales rose 46% year-over-year in the 10 days before the festival in 2026. 

Sources: HDFC Report, Business Standard, The Economic Times

Brief Overview of India’s Festive Shopping Season

India’s Festive Retail Economy Reached ₹6.05 Lakh Crore in 2025 

India’s festive retail economy reached a record ₹6.05 lakh crore during the Navratri-to-Diwali period in 2025, according to CAIT data cited by HDFC. This included ₹5.40 lakh crore in goods and ₹65,000 crore in services, representing a 25% increase over 2024. 

Source: CAIT, as reported by HDFC

The 2025 festive season also generated an estimated 50 lakh temporary jobs across logistics, packaging, hospitality, delivery and related services.

Rural India accounted for around 28% of total festive trade, showing that festive consumption was not limited to India’s largest cities.

Festive E-Commerce Sales Crossed ₹1.15 Lakh Crore 

India’s festive e-commerce GMV crossed ₹1.15 lakh crore in 2025, according to Redseer, representing roughly 20–25% growth and the strongest festive performance in five years.

The first 11 days of the 2025 festive sale period alone generated ₹60,000–₹62,000 crore in GMV, up 20–22% year over year and nearly 3.5 times normal business levels 

Around 90 million shoppers participated during those first 11 days, with average spending close to ₹7,000 per shopper. 

Source: Redseer

How Many People Shop Online During India’s Festive Season?

India had around 290 to 300 million online shoppers in 2025, according to IBEF. During the first 11 days of the festive sales, around 90 million shoppers made online purchases.

Online also plays a huge role in the wider festive shopping journey. About 9 in 10 Indian shoppers use online touchpoints for research, ads or offers as part of their festive buying journey.

Around 65% of incremental online shoppers came from Tier-2 and smaller cities. Amazon also reported that more than 70% of customer visits during its Great Indian Festival 2025 came from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. 

Which Categories Are Most Popular During India’s Festive Season?

FMCG and grocery accounted for 12% of festive trade in 2025, followed by gold and jewelry at 10%, electronics and electricals at 8%, consumer durables at 7%, and ready-made garments at 7%, according to CAIT.

Here’s a look at all the popular festive shopping categories.

Source: Business Today

Fashion Is the Most Planned Festive Shopping Category in 2026

69% of consumers plan to shop for fashion and apparel in 2026, according to Hansa Research. 

Home decor and furniture follow at 51%, and electronics and gadgets at 50%. Sweets and snacks stand at 43%, while jewelry is at 35%.

Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities Drove Most Amazon Great Indian Festival Traffic

In 2025, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival recorded more than 70% of its 276 crore customer visits from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Sellers from these markets also accounted for more than two-thirds of participating small businesses. 

Amazon’s first 48 hours of the sale attracted more than 38 crore visits.

CAIT also reported that Tier-II and Tier-III cities contributed 55% of e-commerce orders, while rural and semi-urban India accounted for around 28% of overall festive trade.

Source: Business Standard, Amazon, HDFC

Online vs Offline Festive Shopping in India

Traditional and local retailers accounted for roughly 85% of festive sales value in 2025, even as festive e-commerce GMV crossed ₹1.15 lakh crore. 

For 2026, analysts expect online festive GMV to grow to ₹1.50–1.55 lakh crore.

Hansa Research’s 2026 festive survey found that:

• 38% of consumers plan to shop through online platforms
• 25% will use a hybrid approach (online + offline)
• 18% will rely mainly on local markets
• 12% will shop primarily at physical retail stores

India’s Biggest Festive Sale Events

Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Billion Days are two of India’s biggest online festive sales. Myntra Big Fashion Festival is another major event for fashion, beauty and lifestyle shopping. These sales typically take place around September-October, ahead of Diwali. 

Amazon Great Indian Festival 

During the 2025 event, Amazon recorded 276 crore customer visits, with more than 70% coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The company also reported more than ₹1,000 crore in customer savings through bank offers, GST benefits and cashback rewards.

Premium smartphone sales grew 30%, with 65% of that demand coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Same-day deliveries to Prime members also increased 60% year over year.

Amazon saw more than 38 crore visits in the first 48 hours with over 70% of them coming from beyond India’s top nine metros.

Source: Amazon

Flipkart Big Billion Days

During Big Billion Days 2025, more than 60% of orders came from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, according to Flipkart. 

Its festive supply chain handled more than 7.3 million shipments in a single day, while same-day and next-day deliveries increased by 44% year over year. 

Flipkart also expanded instant festive shopping through Flipkart Minutes. During the sale’s Early Access period, Minutes recorded more than 45 lakh unique visitors, while order volumes doubled compared with regular days. The fastest iPhone delivery took under three minutes. 

Source: Flipkart Stories

Myntra Big Fashion Festival

During the Big Fashion Festival in 2025, Myntra added 2 million new customers, with 70% of orders coming from non-metro cities. 

Ethnic wear demand grew 2.5 times, while Myntra Luxe grew 80% year over year. Jewelry demand also increased by more than 80%.

Demand on Myntra’s Gen-Z-focused FWD platform also doubled compared with regular business levels, with ethnic wear leading the growth.

Source: Business Standard

Quick Commerce is Becoming a Festive Shopping Channel

Quick commerce platforms are expanding beyond groceries into gifting, beauty, electronics, fashion and home decor during the festive season. 

Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart now run dedicated festive sections, making everything from sweets and dry fruits to diyas, gifts and electronics available for quick delivery. 

• Quick commerce’s share of online festive sales grew from 8% in 2024 to 12% in 2025. Its festive GMV reached around $1.6 billion, roughly double the previous year.
• During the final week of Diwali 2025, brands on quick-commerce platforms reported 3-5x growth in orders for festive products such as gifting items, puja essentials and home decor.
• During Diwali 2025, Blinkit crossed 30 lakh orders per day, Zepto crossed 20 lakh, and Instamart reached 16 lakh on its peak days. 
• Swiggy Instamart’s Rakhi orders grew nearly 300% year over year during August 21-28, 2026, with shoppers ordering 857 rakhis per minute.

How Indians Pay for Festive Shopping 

During Dhanteras to Diwali 2025, UPI averaged 737 million transactions per day, up 30% from 568 million a year earlier.

• UPI transaction value reached ₹87,569 crore per day during the three-day period, more than double the amount recorded during Diwali 2022.
• During Navratri 2025, e-commerce credit card transactions grew 26.8% in volume and 34.8% in value year over year.
• Daily credit card spending during the period reached ₹5,286 crore.
• In August 2026, UPI hit a record 24.51 billion transactions worth ₹29.82 lakh crore, up 22% in volume and 20% in value from August 2025.

Source: NCPI, Moneycontrol

When Do Indians Start Festive Shopping?

61% of consumers start festive shopping at least a week before the festival, according to Hansa Research’s 2026 Festive Insights report. 

50% start two to four weeks before the festival, while 11% begin one to two months in advance.

Only 2% of shoppers wait until the last minute, which shows that most festive shopping happens well before the festival.

For Raksha Bandhan 2026, online orders peaked around 12 days before the festival, compared with six days before in 2025, according to GoKwik.

33.57 Lakh Vehicles Were Registered During Navratri-Diwali 2025

India recorded 33.57 lakh vehicle registrations between Navratri and Diwali 2025, up 17% from the previous year, according to HDFC Mutual Fund’s review.

LCVs recorded the highest growth at 23%, followed by two-wheelers at 18% and passenger vehicles at 14%.

Source: HDFC

India Festive Shopping Trends 2026

• Festive spending is expected to increase in 2026

95% of consumers plan to spend more than usual during the 2026 festive season. Among them, 45% expect to spend 25–50% more, while 22% plan to spend more than 50% extra, according to Hansa Research.

• Premium products are seeing higher demand

Shoppers are continuing to trade up to premium products in 2026, particularly in electronics and consumer durables. Amazon reported that premium TVs priced above ₹35,000 sold at twice the rate seen a year earlier during Prime Day, while AI-enabled PCs and newer kitchen appliances also saw higher demand.

• GenAI is helping shoppers find festive gifts

80% of Indian festive shoppers used generative AI for gift ideas and inspiration, according to a Meta-commissioned Ipsos study.

• Festive online sales are expected to cross ₹1.5 lakh crore

India’s festive online GMV is expected to reach ₹1.50–₹1.55 lakh crore in 2026, up 25–29% from 2025, according to Datum Intelligence. 

• Amazon is hiring 1.6 lakh temporary workers for the festive season

Amazon India plans to hire up to 1.6 lakh temporary workers for the 2026 festive season, 10,000 more than it hired last year, as it prepares for higher festive demand. 

FAQs

How much does India spend during the festive season?

India recorded ₹6.05 lakh crore in festive trade during the Navratri-to-Diwali period in 2025, including ₹5.40 lakh crore in goods and ₹65,000 crore in services. The figure was 25% higher than the ₹4.25 lakh crore recorded in 2024.

How much is India’s festive e-commerce market worth?

Festive e-commerce GMV crossed ₹1.15 lakh crore in 2025, according to Redseer. The first 11 days alone generated ₹60,000–₹62,000 crore in GMV. 

How many people shop online during Diwali?

Around 90 million shoppers made online purchases during the first 11 days of the 2025 festive sales, with average spending of close to ₹7,000 per shopper. 

What are the most popular festive shopping categories in India?

In 2025, FMCG and grocery accounted for the largest share of festive trade at 12%, followed by gold and jewelry at 10%. For 2026, fashion and apparel is the most planned purchase category at 69%, followed by home decor and furniture at 51%.

Which is India’s biggest festive sale?

Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Billion Days are the two major online festive sale events in India. Amazon’s 2025 Great Indian Festival recorded 276 crore customer visits, with more than 70% coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.