How the Affluent Use Their Money In India A median user manages 27 bills annually, in addition to spending on lifestyle needs directly from their bank accounts, as per a report by CRED, a technology company.

There is a surge in the widespread adoption of digital personal finance management products over the past 12 months in India. This can be attributed to India's affluent class experiencing unprecedented levels of financial activity, with the median individual managing over 434 peer-to-peer banking transactions annually and experiencing accelerated flows of earning, investing, and spending. A median user manages 27 bills annually, in addition to spending on lifestyle needs directly from their bank accounts, as per a report by CRED, a technology company.

"Today's financial landscape is more complex than ever before, with individuals managing diverse income streams and investment channels that were inconceivable just a few years ago," said Akshay Aedula, head of product and growth at CRED.

The report added that the introduction of personal finance management on the account aggregator framework has enabled users for the first time to get insights into the velocity and frequency of transactions across multiple bank accounts. It shows that users are navigating a sophisticated web of financial flows, moving beyond traditional salary-spending cycles. These include diversified income sources, increasing bank account activity, active wealth creation, and increasing frequency of ad-hoc transactions.

This high velocity of transactions from bank accounts is accelerated by the adoption of digital payment systems like UPI. Affluent Indians are also among the strongest adopters of multiple payment methods, as indicated by the high volume and value of UPI transactions made by credit card users.

Digital public infrastructure is not only accelerating the volume of transactions through UPI, but also enabling the affluent to master it through the account aggregator framework (India's new digital public infrastructure for secure, consent-based data sharing).

With insights across UPI and traditional banking, users are discovering spending patterns and opportunities that would otherwise remain hidden across scattered statements. The median user has 33 shopping debits, 16 health and wellness debits, 38 food and drink debits, and 25 transportation debits a year from their bank accounts. With intelligent and automated categorization of spends and incoming payments across categories, users are able to ensure consistency and visibility into their lifestyle, the report explained.