iWorld
Ullu appoints Nivedita Basu as head of content strategy & business alliances
Mumbai: Homegrown OTT platform Ullu has appointed Nivedita Basu as the head of content strategy and business alliances. Her role will entail developing, creating, and producing original content and leading strategic business alliances for the platform.
With over two decades of experience in production and programming, Nivedita is one of the most noteworthy professionals in the entertainment industry. Her most significant stint was with Balaji Telefilms, where she donned the hat of a creative director. She was key in revolutionising Indian soap series and also spear-headed content creation for leading Indian GEC namely Star, Zee Entertainment, Sony amongst many others. She is lauded for shows like “Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi,” “Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki,” “Kasauti Zindagii Ki,” “Kusum” and has also worked as a creative director for 24 at Anil Kapoor Film Company. Prior to joining Ullu, Nivedita had directed and co-produced its much-talked-about show “Tandoor.”
Speaking on her appointment, Ullu founder and CEO Vibhu Agarwal said, “As we continue to expand and foray in different domains, Nivedita’s rich and illustrious experience will help us drive our goals. In her capacity, Nivedita will be responsible for not just creating engaging original content but also identifying the right talent for it. She will also lead our existing and new key business alliances.”
“It gives me immense pleasure to join the vibrant and growing team of Ullu. Its commendable, how in such a short span of time, Ullu has established itself as a key player in the OTT space which offers content across genres,” said Nivedita Basu. “Earlier last year it expanded its library with family viewing shows like Assi Nabbe Poore Sau, Bulls of Dalal Street, Cyanide and Tandoor amongst others which had some of the best-known talents from the industry along with intriguing concepts. It is now at a pivotal juncture of diversifying and I join the team to further solidify its premium content offering. I am really thankful to Vibhu ji for instilling faith in me. I hope to take Ullu’s premium content domains to new heights and make the brand a one-stop destination of entertainment across domains.”
e-commerce
Visa report tracks rise of India’s affluent, experience-led spending
Affluent base doubles to 130 lakh, travel 58 per cent of elite spends.
MUMBAI: In India’s new luxury playbook, it’s less about owning more and more about living better. A new whitepaper by Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) maps a decisive shift in India’s affluent economy, where spending is becoming more intentional, experience-led, and closely tied to personal identity rather than pure income growth.
Titled India’s Affluent Economy 2025–2026, the report draws on a Visa-commissioned Yougov study and VisaNet data across travel, dining, retail and lifestyle categories. The headline number is hard to miss: individuals earning over Rs 10 lakh annually have nearly doubled from 69 lakh to 130 lakh, significantly expanding the country’s discretionary spending base.
But it’s not just about scale, it’s about behaviour. As consumers move up the affluence ladder, discretionary categories are taking a larger share of credit card spends, positioning cards as key enablers of premium, lifestyle-driven consumption.
The geography of wealth is shifting too. Affluence is no longer confined to metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, with cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur and Lucknow increasingly mirroring metro consumption patterns.
The report highlights a clear pivot from ownership to access. More than 50 per cent of affluent consumers now use cards for elite memberships, while 7 in 10 are drawn to limited-edition drops and curated collections. Increasingly, luxury is defined by seamless access be it concierge-led travel or curated dining where time saved is as valuable as money spent.
Spending patterns reinforce this shift. Among the ultra-elite, travel accounts for 58 per cent of discretionary spends, far outpacing retail and luxury combined at 28 per cent. Cross-border spending penetration stands at 63 per cent, signalling a growing global outlook among India’s affluent.
Closer home, indulgence is becoming routine. Nearly 4 in 5 affluent consumers dine at premium establishments at least three times a year, while 1 in 4 visit luxury venues more than five times annually. Dining spends are also climbing, with Rs 20,000 emerging as a new entry-level benchmark per experience and Rs 50,000 marking premium territory.
Retail, meanwhile, is becoming more selective. Three in four affluent consumers make a high-end purchase at least once a quarter, while one in four shops premium every two weeks. Luxury retail intensity is also rising, with 2 in 5 consumers spending over Rs 5 lakh annually, and a smaller but significant segment exceeding Rs 10 lakh.
Technology and wellness are carving out new roles in this ecosystem. High-end gadgets now see average spends of Rs 60,000 or more per purchase, while ultra-elite consumers are eight times more likely to visit spas and show five times higher engagement with cosmetic stores than non-affluent groups.
The broader takeaway is structural. Affluent consumers are no longer buying products, they are buying ecosystems. Integrated experiences across travel, dining, wellness and payments are becoming central to how this segment lives and spends.
As India’s affluent base expands beyond metros and aligns more closely with global consumption patterns, the real opportunity lies not just in size, but in speed. For brands, the message is clear: relevance will be defined by how early and how seamlessly, they plug into this evolving lifestyle economy.
