iWorld
Voot’s new series to show urban marriage issues
MUMBAI: Viacom18’s OTT platform Voot announces a new 6-episode original series titled Time Out featuring Tahir Raj Bhasin and Sarah Jane Dias. After the success of its recent Voot Originals like Yo Ke Hua Bro, It’s Not That Simple, Untag and others, Time Out is Voot’s tenth original series streaming from 28 November.
It tells the story of Rahul and Radha’s perfect romance, perfect relationship and perfect life until he realises that he’s been living the life he’s supposed to and not necessarily the one he wants to. The series will introduce the audience to the side of urban marriages where the couple has to deal with issues of responsibility, reliability and readiness.
During the launch, Voot head of content Monika Shergill said, “Adulting in India has never been easy! And the cocktail of expectations & pressures, from family & society, make it even more challenging. With Time Out, we take the audience on a dramatic, fun and totally vicarious journey to explore this highly relevant & relatable modern day theme. Originals at Voot are maturing with every offering and in the coming year with a robust lineup of big series, we are aiming to become the preferred destination for the new discerning digital viewer.’
Commenting on the same, director Danish Aslam further added saying, “Voot as a platform encourages innovation in content that is both engaging and experimental. Thematically, the story is reflective of the cultural and social milieu I’m part of – married couples who are coming to terms with the idea of parenthood. Thus, directing Time Out was an opportunity to explore the insights that seemed the most relevant and immediate to my life and experiences.”
Talking about playing Rahul, Tahir Raj Bhasin said, “It was the complexity of the role that drew me to play Rahul. It was challenging to portray a character’s descent from order to chaos that leads to a journey filled with interesting yet gut-wrenching choices.”
Talking about playing Radha, Sarah Jane Dias said, “Radha is that girlfriend of yours who has her whole life figured out before she’s even lived it. For once, however, she’s forced into a situation where she has no choice but to give up the driver’s seat. I said yes to playing her because it’s always challenging for us as humans to ‘free flow’ through life and trust that things will always work out, eventually.”
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.
