As India enters the festive season, TRA Research’s Buying Intent Index (BII) points to significant variations in consumer purchase intent across cities, city belts and product categories. The study suggests that while festive celebrations may be widespread, consumer willingness to make purchases differs sharply depending on geography and category.
The index maps where buying intent is strengthening most rapidly, providing a view of emerging demand patterns across markets. According to TRA Research, the findings highlight that festive consumer sentiment is not uniform, with certain city clusters and categories showing stronger momentum than others.
Buying Intent is a forward-looking measure of consumer readiness to buy. Comparing the June-July-August (JJA) window of 2026 with the same period in 2025, the Index reveals an increasingly granular festive marketplace: one part of a city may be strengthening in apparel, another in mobility, digital, home improvement or everyday consumption.
“The festive market this year rewards precision over reach. The city tells you where the celebration is; Buying Intent tells you where the opportunity lies. For marketers, the festive question is no longer just which city to spend in. It is which city belt, for which category, at which moment. When people, commerce and communication are this concentrated, a city-belt view lets brands place media, activations and retail presence where category Buying Intent is strengthening fastest,” said N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research.
The city-by-city picture entering the festive season:
Mumbai — Ganeshotsav, September 2026
Festive season enters with broad cross-category momentum
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Electrical Goods | 108.2 | 154.2 | +46.0 |
| Lighting | 108.3 | 154.3 | +46.0 |
| Air Conditioners | 100.3 | 121.5 | +21.2 |
| Food & Beverages | 112.5 | 134.5 | +22.0 |
| Technology | 126.0 | 140.0 | +14.0 |
| Consumer Electronics | 113.9 | 125.5 | +11.6 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: Eastern Suburbs — Passenger Vehicles +40.4%, Air Conditioners +35.0%; Central Mumbai — Televisions +29.8%; Western Suburbs (Near) — Laptops +18.6%; South Mumbai — Consumer Electronics +14.8%.
Delhi-NCR — Chhath Puja, November 2026
Buying Intent strengthens across apparel, beauty, digital and everyday categories.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Cosmetics | 86.5 | 105.0 | +18.5 |
| Apparels | 91.4 | 108.7 | +17.3 |
| Digital | 100.2 | 113.0 | +12.8 |
| FMCG | 92.7 | 103.4 | +10.7 |
| Biscuits | 80.7 | 105.0 | +24.3 |
| Shampoo | 86.5 | 109.2 | +22.7 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: South Delhi — Internet Search +31.6%, Apparels +28.4%; Gurgaon — Food & Beverages +30.0%; West Delhi — Cosmetics +27.0%; North Delhi — Technology +26.9%, Apparels +23.2%
Kolkata — Durga Puja, October 2026
Mobility emerges as a significant festive theme alongside sharp gains in everyday categories.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Passenger Vehicles | 98.9 | 117.8 | +18.9 |
| Automobile | 104.1 | 121.0 | +16.9 |
| Laptops | 90.6 | 99.8 | +9.2 |
| Mobile Phones | 94.8 | 103.5 | +8.7 |
| Toothpaste | 83.1 | 118.9 | +35.8 |
| Healthcare | 88.2 | 123.5 | +35.3 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: East Kolkata — Passenger Vehicles +45.1%; South Kolkata — Automobile +22.4%, Retail +21.5%; North Kolkata — Personal Accessories +21.6%, Online Retail +20.3%; Central Kolkata — Laptops +29.4%, Passenger Vehicles +26.4%.
Chennai — Deepavali shopping, October-November 2026
Buying Intent rotates towards apparel and everyday consumption categories.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Apparels | 90.5 | 114.0 | +23.5 |
| QSR | 93.2 | 112.4 | +19.2 |
| Tea | 90.2 | 108.4 | +18.2 |
| Toothpaste | 88.4 | 105.5 | +17.1 |
| Healthcare | 99.1 | 114.7 | +15.6 |
| Fast Fashion | 87.2 | 97.8 | +10.6 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: South Chennai — Apparels +57.6%; Central Chennai — QSR +51.6%, Apparels +22.9%, Tea +22.5%; West Chennai — FMCG +13.8%; North Chennai — Technology +13.3%.
Bengaluru — Deepavali shopping, October-November 2026
The festive lead-in shows selective bright spots across home, healthcare, lifestyle and finance.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Refrigerators | 88.1 | 108.5 | +20.4 |
| Hospitals | 82.6 | 99.9 | +17.3 |
| Healthcare | 85.8 | 101.6 | +15.8 |
| Cosmetics | 84.4 | 97.3 | +12.9 |
| Tyres | 98.3 | 112.2 | +13.9 |
| Financial Services | 96.8 | 104.4 | +7.6 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: East Bengaluru — Activewear +45.8%, Sports +30.4%; Central Bengaluru — Home Appliances +52.0%; South Bengaluru — Sports +39.3%, Refrigerators +37.8%; North Bengaluru — Banking & Finance +10.3%.
Hyderabad — Ganeshotsav / Visarjan, September 2026
Buying Intent shows strong city-belt and category pockets rather than broad-based momentum.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Instant Coffee | 68.6 | 105.0 | +36.4 |
| Healthcare | 90.4 | 120.4 | +30.0 |
| Tea | 98.9 | 119.0 | +20.1 |
| Ice Cream / Frozen Dessert | 88.9 | 108.4 | +19.5 |
| Apparels | 87.2 | 103.5 | +16.3 |
| Air Conditioners | 87.5 | 102.6 | +15.1 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: West Hyderabad — Tea +50.6%; Central Hyderabad — Air Conditioners +48.8%; North Hyderabad — Retail +41.5%, Motorcycle Makers +30.8%; East Hyderabad — Digital +21.7%, Mobile Phones +21.3%.
Ahmedabad — Navratri 2026
Selective festive gains emerge across home, utility, digital and mobility categories.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Fans | 83.4 | 104.5 | +21.1 |
| Water Purifiers | 81.9 | 102.4 | +20.5 |
| Electrical Goods | 98.7 | 114.2 | +15.5 |
| Passenger Vehicles | 88.6 | 100.3 | +11.7 |
| Laptops | 83.4 | 93.8 | +10.4 |
| Home Appliances | 83.3 | 93.4 | +10.1 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: East Ahmedabad — FMCG +35.2%, Digital +21.6%; West Ahmedabad — Water Purifiers +22.7%, Watches +19.6%, Fans +17.7%.
Pune — Ganeshotsav, September 2026
The festive lead-in is selective, with a distinctly digital tilt.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Mobile Networks | 76.0 | 95.6 | +19.6 |
| Online Retail | 85.9 | 98.9 | +13.0 |
| Digital | 85.4 | 94.3 | +8.9 |
| Hypermarkets | 103.0 | 111.9 | +8.9 |
| Washing Machines | 102.6 | 107.0 | +4.4 |
| Televisions | 115.9 | 119.2 | +3.3 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: West Pune — Digital +21.4%, Washing Machines +14.5%; Pimpri-Chinchwad — Televisions +5.6%; Central Pune — Televisions +19.6%, Retail +10.6%; South Pune — Technology +30.5%.
Lucknow — Diwali, November 2026
Food & Beverages, mobility and utility categories lead selective gains entering the festive period.
| Category | JJA ’25 | JJA ’26 | Change in BI |
| Food & Beverages | 83.3 | 108.1 | +24.8 |
| Fans | 75.1 | 110.1 | +35.0 |
| Manufacturing | 81.6 | 107.5 | +25.9 |
| Motorcycle Makers | 98.4 | 128.1 | +29.7 |
| Online Retail | 96.2 | 116.5 | +20.3 |
| Personal Accessories | 82.7 | 99.6 | +16.9 |
City-belt hotspots — YoY % change: East Lucknow — Televisions +28.0%, Consumer Electronics +24.7%; Central Lucknow — Food & Beverages +22.1%, Online Retail +18.4%; West Lucknow — Motorcycle Makers +32.5%, Automobile +18.7%.
One festive season. Many different opportunities:
Across the nine cities, one pattern holds: Buying Intent entering the festive season is far from uniform. The categories in which consumer keenness to buy is strengthening differ from city to city, and often substantially between city belts within the same city.
Mumbai shows broad cross-category momentum. Kolkata combines strong mobility gains with sharp increases in some everyday categories. Delhi-NCR and Chennai show strengthening intent across apparel and consumption-led categories, while Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune reveal more selective category and city-belt opportunities. Lucknow shows notable gains spanning food, utility, mobility and online retail.
For marketers, that changes the festive planning question. The opportunity is no longer simply to identify which cities will see the largest festive crowds, but to understand which city belt is showing stronger Buying Intent for the category a brand competes in.
That distinction can help sharpen choices across media, retail presence, activation, outdoor visibility and local marketing.
The Buying Intent Index (BII) is a monthly measure of consumer readiness to buy across India’s brands, categories and cities. Powered by TRA Research, it gives marketers, brand custodians and agencies a forward-looking read on where consumer keenness to buy is strengthening — nationally, by brand and, as this festive edition demonstrates, right down to the city belt.
