Festive EMIs 2026: 5 Traps Draining Your Wallet?

Indians are spending more this festive season using UPI and EMIs, especially in smaller cities. But easy credit during festivals can quietly snowball into months of financial stress if you're not careful.

Here's what happened: Festive season 2026 is seeing record digital payment volumes, with UPI driving the bulk of transactions across both metro and tier-2 and tier-3 cities.. Consumer spending is concentrated in electronics, travel bookings, and beauty — with a rising share of purchases being financed through EMIs and buy-now-pay-later schemes.. Smaller city buyers are emerging as the fastest-growing borrower segment this festive season, often taking first-time EMI credit through apps and e-commerce platforms..

What you should do: Calculate your total EMI outflow across ALL active loans before adding any festive EMI — your total EMIs should not exceed 40% of your monthly take-home pay.. Compare the 'cost price' of a zero-cost EMI product against a cash discount — call the retailer directly and ask for the full-payment price before signing any EMI form.. Check your CIBIL score before applying for any new festive loan or credit card — a score below 700 will get you higher interest rates, wiping out any sale-price savings..

If you must use a credit card EMI, convert it BEFORE the billing cycle closes — post-billing conversions often attract a one-time processing fee plus interest from the purchase date, not the conversion date.