MAM
Credit where it’s due as festive shoppers swipe big this Diwali
MUMBAI: Looks like this Diwali, Indians didn’t just light up their homes, they swiped their way to sparkle too. A new survey by Paisabazaar reveals that over 42 per cent of credit card users spent upwards of Rs 50,000 on festive shopping this year, signalling that big-ticket buying is firmly back in fashion.
The festive cheer wasn’t limited to diyas and discounts, it spread right across credit limits. About 22 per cent of respondents spent between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh, while one in five splurged over Rs 1 lakh on their cards during Diwali. The survey, which covered over 2,300 users, paints a clear picture of India’s growing comfort with credit as a strategic spending tool.
When it came to what they bought, home appliances topped the wishlist at 25 per cent, followed by mobiles, gadgets and accessories at 23 per cent, and apparel at 22 per cent. Furniture and décor made up 18 per cent of spends, while gold and jewellery accounted for 12 per cent proof that both sparkle and substance drove shopping choices this season.
But it wasn’t all impulse. The study revealed that 91 per cent of shoppers planned their purchases around card-specific offers and festive deals. Less than 10 per cent relied solely on their card’s standard cashback or reward structure. Clearly, today’s consumers are not just shopping, they’re strategising.
“Consumers are using credit cards more intelligently, timing their high-value purchases with festive offers and card-linked deals,” said Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal. “This growing financial awareness shows how value and convenience are driving credit card use.”
The benefits are paying off too. Nearly 71 per cent of respondents owned shopping-specific credit cards that offered cashback or festive rewards, while 15 per cent received seasonal deals even without such cards. For many, cashback remained the biggest draw chosen by 20 per cent of users followed closely by co-branded offers (19 per cent) and accelerated reward points (18 per cent).
Among those opting for EMIs, No-Cost EMI emerged as the clear winner, attracting 56 per cent of users, while 29 per cent chose EMIs to unlock extra discounts and 10 per cent used them simply to spread payments more comfortably.
Interestingly, shoppers were equally at home online and offline 48 per cent said they preferred a mix of both. The hunt for better deals drove most of them to e-commerce giants, with 83 per cent claiming they found the best discounts on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. Together, the two dominated with a 43 per cent preference rate, followed by Myntra (15 per cent), Meesho (10 per cent), and other platforms such as Ajio, Nykaa, Zepto and Tata Cliq accounting for 32 per cent collectively.
Paisabazaar, head of credit cards Rohit Chhibbar summed it up aptly: “This festive season marked the rise of the value-savvy shopper, one who plans, compares, and capitalises on every offer. Cashback, rewards, and no-cost EMIs have made credit cards indispensable for festive spending.”
In short, this Diwali, shoppers didn’t just chase lights, they chased the right swipes.
Brands
Amazon doubles down on Anthropic with $25bn AI investment plan
Deal locks in massive compute capacity and pushes Claude deeper into AWS stack
MUMBAI: Amazon and Anthropic have significantly expanded their strategic partnership, committing to a long-term collaboration that combines billions in fresh investment with one of the largest AI infrastructure deals to date.
At the heart of the agreement is Anthropic’s plan to spend more than $100 billion over the next decade on AWS technologies. This includes access to up to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity powered by successive generations of Trainium chips, alongside tens of millions of Graviton cores. The scale signals a clear intent to future-proof the infrastructure behind its fast-growing Claude models.
In parallel, Amazon will invest $5 billion in Anthropic immediately, with the option to add up to $20 billion more tied to performance milestones. This builds on the $8 billion the tech giant has already committed to the AI firm.
The collaboration also tightens product integration. Anthropic’s full Claude Platform will now be accessible directly within AWS, allowing developers to use its native tools without leaving their existing cloud environment. The models are already widely used through Amazon Bedrock, where more than 100,000 customers are running Claude for tasks ranging from customer support to scientific research.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said, “Our custom AI silicon offers high performance at significantly lower cost for customers, which is why it’s in such hot demand.” He added that Anthropic’s long-term commitment to Trainium reflects the progress both companies have made in building scalable AI infrastructure.
Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei said, “Our users tell us Claude is increasingly essential to how they work, and we need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand.” He noted that the partnership would help advance research while serving a rapidly expanding user base.
The two companies have already been working closely since 2023. Their joint efforts include Project Rainier, a massive AI cluster featuring hundreds of thousands of Trainium chips, now used to train and deploy newer versions of Claude. The new agreement extends this momentum, with fresh capacity expected to come online through 2026, including next-generation Trainium3 and Trainium4 chips.
Anthropic’s growth has been equally striking. The company says its annualised revenue run rate has crossed $30 billion, up sharply from about $9 billion at the end of 2025, driven by surging enterprise and consumer demand. That rapid uptake has also strained infrastructure, making this expanded deal as much about stability as it is about scale.
The partnership will also expand globally, with increased inference capacity planned across Asia and Europe, ensuring Claude’s reach keeps pace with its popularity.
From powering ride-hailing support systems to accelerating drug research workflows, Claude’s use cases continue to broaden. With this deal, Amazon and Anthropic are not just adding more compute, they are doubling down on a shared bet that AI’s next leap will be built on deeper, tighter integrations between models and infrastructure.
If the past few years were about proving the promise of generative AI, this alliance suggests the next phase will be about building it at industrial scale.
