Affluent Indians Use Digital Tools for Wealth Management

India's affluent class is experiencing unprecedented levels of financial activity, with the median individual managing over 434 peer-to-peer banking transactions annually and experiencing accelerated flows of earning, investing, and spending. This dramatic increase in financial complexity has driven widespread adoption of digital personal finance management products over the past 12 months.

The introduction of personal finance management on the account aggregator framework has enabled users for the first time to get insights into the velocity and frequency of transactions across multiple bank accounts, through tools like CRED Money, used by over 10 lakh affluent Indians. It shows that users are navigating a sophisticated web of financial flows, moving beyond traditional salary-spending cycles. These include:

• Diversified income sources: 42% receive dividend payments (10 times yearly), indicating a mature approach to passive income generation

• Increasing bank account activity: 116 incoming peer-to-peer transactions annually (₹7,82,838) balanced against 318 outgoing transfers (₹6,93,349 yearly) – marking a radical shift from traditional salary-based incoming payment patterns.

• Active wealth creation: The median user is taking a more hands-on approach to building wealth, with 71% actively investing, a median of 28 times a year.

• Complex payment patterns: Regular merchant transactions across 360 different payment flows annually, highlighting the increasing frequency of ad-hoc transactions

This high velocity of transactions from bank accounts is accelerated by the adoption of digital payment systems like UPI. Affluent Indians are also among the strongest adopters of multiple payment methods, as indicated by the high volume and value of UPI transactions made by credit card users.

Timely Insights Accelerating Financial Progress for Affluent

Digital public infrastructure is not only accelerating the volume of transactions through UPI, but also enabling the affluent to master it through the account aggregator framework (India's new digital public infrastructure for secure, consent-based data sharing).

With personal finance management tools like CRED Money, they are transforming scattered financial data into timely, actionable intelligence that reinforces the disciplined habits behind their success.

Today's financial landscape is more complex than ever before, with individuals managing diverse income streams and investment channels that were inconceivable just a few years ago," said Akshay Aedula, head of product and growth at CRED. "CRED Money responds to this evolution by putting clarity and control back in users' hands. We're not just helping people track their finances—we're empowering them to understand and optimize their money through smart technology and complete data transparency. This marks a shift from money management to mastery, while ensuring users maintain full control over their personal data."

This sophisticated approach enables them to:

• Consolidate of fragmented finances: With nearly 7 in 10 affluent Indians juggling multiple bank accounts, wallets, and UPI IDs, unified management has become essential for financial control.

• Simplify recurring payments: The median user manages 27 bills per year. Through automated tracking and alerts for recurring payments and SIPs, users are managing multiple payment schedules while ensuring they never miss critical transactions. 

• Identify meaningful patterns: With insights across UPI and traditional banking, users are discovering spending patterns and opportunities that would otherwise remain hidden across scattered statements. The median user has 33 shopping debits, 16 health and wellness debits, 38 food and drink debits, and 25 transportation debits a year from their bank accounts. With intelligent and automated categorization of spends and incoming payments across categories, users are able to ensure consistency and visibility into their lifestyle.

• Build wealth proactively: Real-time visibility of dividends, refunds, and other credits across accounts enables precise timing of investments and strategic cash flow management, transforming raw financial data into actionable wealth-building opportunities. Instead of waiting for periodic advice or recommendations, they can adjust their earning, investing, and spending habits in real-time.

 As credit card users become UPI power users and passive income streams multiply, what distinguishes today's wealth builders is not just their ability to earn more – it's their capacity to take control over their financial lives. Through the account aggregator framework, India's affluent are gaining unprecedented visibility into their financial lives, turning data into decisions that lead to financial progress.