In economic shift, smaller cities keep consumption engine running

Non-essential spending has increased more in non-metro segment as incomes rise

Two days into festival season sales, e-commerce firm Amazon India says more than 80 per cent of its customers are logging in from non-metro cities.

Smaller cities are growing differently from metros in terms of spending and income, according to an analysis Business Standard did of unit-level data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Consumer Confidence Survey. Such cities report higher income growth and increased spending outside of essentials.

The analysis classified the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore (Bengaluru) and Kolkata into one group. As many as 14 other cities were included in a separate group of non-metro