Delhi Leads Independence Season Sale with 27.7% Growth as India’s Festive Shopping Momentum Builds

Fynd, an AI-native retail technology company backed by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, has released the Fynd Freedom Sale Report 2026, offering a three-year view of Independence Day sale performance across marketplaces, cities, states and city tiers. The analysis covers the comparable 29 July to 13 August period in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

The clearest story this year is the growing weight of smaller-city India. Tier 3 markets generated ₹10.35 crore in sales in 2026, accounting for 48.5% of total GMV and nearly two-thirds of the year-on-year increase. Tier 3 sales are now slightly above their 2024 level, even as Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets remain below theirs.

Overall, sales GMV rose 17.6% year on year to ₹21.32 crore in 2026, recovering more than half of the decline seen in 2025. While sales have not yet returned to the 2024 peak of ₹24.04 crore, the recovery is broader geographically and increasingly distributed beyond India’s largest urban centres.

Key highlights from the Fynd Freedom Sale Report 2026 include:

• Tier 3 becomes the engine of the recovery: Tier 3 GMV grew 23.8% to ₹10.35 crore, contributing 62.4% of the 2026 rebound and increasing its share of total sales to 48.5%.
• Smaller-city demand is broad, not concentrated: Gautam Buddha Nagar was the largest Tier 3 market at ₹17.38 lakh, but represented only 1.7% of Tier 3 sales, suggesting demand is spread across a wide set of locations.
• Flipkart records the sharpest marketplace jump: Flipkart moved from #3 in 2025 to #2 in 2026 as GMV rose 156.3% to ₹4.13 crore. Myntra remained the overall marketplace leader at ₹9.10 crore, or 42.7% of total GMV.
• Delhi stays India’s top sale city: Delhi generated ₹1.85 crore in 2026, up 27.7% year on year, followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai.
• West Bengal emerges as the standout state mover: West Bengal climbed from #9 in 2025 to #5 in 2026, with GMV increasing 64.8% to ₹1.33 crore — the largest absolute state-level increase.
• Growth broadens across eastern and southern India: Kerala grew 47.2%, Andhra Pradesh 43.4%, Bihar 38.2% and Tamil Nadu 32.4% year on year, showing that the recovery extended well beyond the biggest state markets.
• Tier 3 is the only tier back at 2024 levels: Tier 3 sales were 0.3% above 2024, while Tier 1 remained 18.1% lower and Tier 2 remained 22.4% lower than their respective 2024 levels.

Ragini Varma, Chief Business Officer – India, Fynd, said, “India’s next wave of retail growth will not be defined by the biggest cities alone, but by how effectively brands can serve a far more distributed consumer base. Tier 3 markets are no longer an emerging opportunity on the sidelines; they are becoming central to the growth story. What will differentiate retailers now is their ability to anticipate demand at a local level, build the right marketplace, fulfilment strategy, and deliver the same quality of experience wherever the customer is. The brands that build for this new retail landscape today will be the ones that shape the next decade of commerce.”

Marketplace dynamics are shifting too. Myntra retained a clear lead in 2026, but Flipkart’s sharp rise to the #2 position points to a more competitive festive marketplace mix. At the same time, the strongest geographic gains came from a wider set of markets, with West Bengal and several eastern and southern states growing faster than the national average.