Demonetisation fails to ban spirit of people gearing up to celebrate New Year

Since the demonetisation move occurred, 67 per cent of Indians have been buying their New Year parties online. The note ban hasn’t been able to dampen the spirit of people gearing up to welcome 2017, according to a survey. It, however, noted that the move hasn’t had too much impact on people’s party budget with over half the over 5,500 respondents planning to spend higher than 2015.

“Party goers in India are loosening their purse strings this year with almost 52 per cent respondents ready to spend more, while 31 percent keeping their budget the same for parties compared to last year,” said the survey conducted by Sequoia Capital-backed Nearbuy (formerly Groupon India).

It found that almost 17 percent wanted to stay within a budget or sought for an inexpensive option, and of them, 34 percent said they felt cash-starved due to demonetisation and wanted to spend less. The survey observed that in 2015 36 percent spent less than Rs 1,000 on New Year’s Eve, while 31 percent of the respondents spent up to Rs 2,000. Nearly 21 percent spent between Rs 2,001-5,000 and only 12 per cent upwards of Rs 5,000 last year.

“A majority of people are willing to spend more than what they did the previous year which essentially means that demonetisation has not dampened their spirit and they are in full gear to buy their party passes online which works in our favour,” Nearbuy Founder and CEO Ankur Warikoo said.This is reflected in the findings with 67 percent of those surveyed buying their New Year parties online.