Kotak Mutual Fund Managing Director Nilesh Shah on Sunday highlighted what he described as major shifts in India's consumption patterns, pointing to rising foreign travel spending, mounting retail trading losses and growing digital fraud as indicators of a changing economy.

Shah said India's annual foreign travel expenditure of around ₹1.45 lakh crore now exceeds the size of the country's entire building materials industry, which includes plywood, tiles, pipes and laminates.

He also drew attention to the losses incurred by retail traders in recent years.

"The ₹2.87 lakh crore lost by retail traders in FY22-25 is more than half of consumer staple spend in a year or it could have bought ~35–36 crore washing machine, nearly each household in India having one washing machine," Shah said.

The noted fund manager further noted that digital fraud has extracted significant sums from the economy. "The ₹53,000 crore lost in digital frauds in 6 years is equivalent to India's branded QSR industry, money literally shifting from consumption to scams."

Shah also highlighted the rapid growth of Apple's India business. "Apple India added ₹1.2 lakh+ crore revenue in 5 years, almost equivalent to creating two new HUL-sized businesses almost from scratch."

According to Shah, changing consumer preferences are also reshaping spending patterns. He pointed out that India's live events industry, estimated at around ₹20,800 crore, is now comparable in size to the country's organised footwear market. "Weekends are replacing wardrobes," he said.

Shah said the data points reveal three broader trends in India's consumption basket.

First, he argued, spending is increasingly shifting away from traditional essentials. He said the Indian wallet is shifting from cereals and pulses to data, OTT and mobile. 

Second, he said income growth is becoming deeper but not broad-based enough across the population.

Third, Shah argued that curbing speculative losses, digital fraud and Ponzi schemes could have a bigger economic impact than some policy interventions. "Speculative loss, digital fraud and Ponzi schemes if plugged, can boost the economy more than the GST cut announced in Sept 24."

Published on: May 25, 2026 7:05 AM IST