Credit card issuer American Express has shared some data on the usage pattern of its cards by Indian nationals between the years 2014 and 2018. The key takeaway from this report is that the millennials in India lead the spending groups in the country, at 37%. They are also the fastest growing user segment among the American Express card users in India. Amex has bracketed those in the age bracket of 19-39 years as millennials.

The products and services plotted by the company included travel, clothes, stay and jewellery. The spending by the Indian millennials is growing by 27% (CAGR).

This group also accounts for a third of the spending on luxury products among all categories. And speaking of categories, this exercise by Amex reveals that the two areas of maximum spending appear to be dining and jewellery. American Express notices a marked difference in the spending habits of this generation from the previous ones. The bank calls it the urge to ‘live up the moment’ or enjoying life as it presents itself.

Delving further into the statistics, the card issuer says millennials contribute to 42% of the luxury spends on dining in India; jewellery contributes 38% and high-end apparel 35%. Millennials using American Express cards account for 42% of the total luxury and high-end dining spending.

The other trend emerging out of these data is that the same age group are travelling as well and it includes domestic and international travel. The split here is 44% international and 56% domestic.

An interesting observation made in this report is that the foreign travellers appear to be visiting the non-metro destinations in India more frequently than the metro ones. When Indians travel abroad, Europe seems to be the most favourite destination.