September 2026

1 · The national reading

Three small dips in a row

India Buying Intent moved from 98.8 in August to 98.2 in September. Each of the last three steps has been small: 99.6 in June, 99.4 in July, 98.8 in August and now 98.2. Together they add up to 1.4 points since June, and the index sits under its three-month trend of 98.8.

Last September the reading was 97.3, so the market is still ahead of where it stood a year ago. The lowest point in these 18 months was 94.9 in Jan ’26, and the highest was 100.2 in Oct ’25.

The quarter that closed

September closes the July–September quarter. Read as one pooled quarter, India Buying Intent stood at 98.8, −0.3 on the April–June quarter and +1.2 on July–September last year. The dip inside the quarter has not undone the recovery from the January–March low of 95.4.

2 · Under the surface

Desire eased a little more than Trust

Trust is how sure people feel about a brand. Desire is how much they want it. In August the two stood level at 98.8. In September both slipped, and Desire slipped by 0.2 of a point more. People are about as sure of brands as they were, and a little less keen on them.

Brands split almost evenly

Share of brands measured in both August and September whose reading went up. About as many brands rose as fell, on Trust and on Desire.

Wanted more than trusted, and the reverse

Among the hundred brands with the highest Buying Intent, these have the widest gap between the two. A brand wanted well beyond its Trust has an appeal it has not yet turned into confidence; a brand trusted well beyond its Desire is relied on more than it is longed for.

LIC, HDFC Bank and Reliance Jio are wanted far beyond their Trust, and so is Hyundai even after its fall this month. Dell, Amul milk and Asus are the other way round: high confidence, less pull.

How India decided

Close to two in three buying decisions were thought through, not made on impulse. That share has barely changed: it has stayed between 62.6% and 62.7% in every month since April 2025. The sectors where decisions are weighed up most are Hospitality (74.9%), Consumer Electronics (74.7%) and Automobile (70.8%), so a brand in those sectors is judged on its case rather than picked on impulse.

3 · Categories

The largest categories eased; Digital and BFSI rose

The national reading moved by 0.6 of a point. Underneath, the super-categories moved by whole percentage points in both directions, and against a year ago the picture is different again.

Consumer Electronics is still the largest at 12.9, though it has eased two months running from 14.1 in July. Food & Beverage and FMCG have now fallen three months running. FMCG stood at 9.8 in June and reads 7.7 now.

Automobile had risen through July and August. In September it fell from 11.2 to 10.1, which puts it below its July reading of 10.6.

The gains were in Digital, BFSI and Retail. Digital has risen two months running, from 7.2 in July to 8.1. BFSI moved from 5.9 to 6.4, back to where it stood in July.

Against September 2025 the split is between services people use online and goods they take home. Digital (4.9 → 8.1), Technology (6.7 → 7.7) and Automobile (9.4 → 10.1) are above where they stood a year ago. FMCG (10.4 → 7.7), Consumer Electronics (14.8 → 12.9) and Food & Beverage (9.0 → 8.7) are below.

Rows marked small base sit under 1.0, where a change of a tenth of a point shows up as a large percentage.

What moved inside the large super-categories

Categories reading 0.5 or more in August or September, on the category scale; brands reading 100 or more in either month, on the brand scale, with the change in points.

4 · Brands

The brands that moved most

Twenty biggest gains and twenty biggest drops in Buying Intent from August to September. Each brand is read within its own category.

Biggest gains

Biggest drops

^◦ Small base: the brand read under 100 in August or September, so its percentage change looks larger than the move behind it.

What the lists say

Money brands gained. LIC, HDFC Bank, CRED, Muthoot Finance, Groww and ICICI Bank are all among the twenty biggest gains. Google Pay was the one money brand among the drops.

Cars fell together. Tata Motors, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra are all among the drops, and no car maker is among the gains. Maruti Suzuki fell too, by less, and that is how it came to lead the category.

Two-wheelers split. Bajaj made the largest gain of any brand. Honda and TVS motorcycles, which rose in August, both fell.

Laptops changed hands below the leader. Dell made the largest drop of any brand and still leads the category by a wide margin. HP and Asus both gained.

Cooling and washing brands eased. LG and Daikin fell in air conditioners, and Samsung fell in washing machines. No air conditioner brand is among the gains.

Fashion and phones moved brand by brand. Zudio gained while Zara fell. Mi gained while Oppo fell.

5 · Leadership

Categories that changed leader

A month can move the national number by a fraction of a point and still change who leads a category. These are the categories where the brand with the highest Buying Intent in September is not the one that led in August.

Two of these are among the largest categories in the index. In cars, Maruti Suzuki leads because it fell least: Tata Motors gave up 254.7 points and Maruti 81.9. In air conditioners, Voltas rose and Daikin fell, so the two crossed. In pressure cookers, fans, furniture and lighting the new leader rose past the August leader: TTK Prestige, Orient, Godrej Interio and Syska all moved up. Hawkins rose too, by less; Crompton, IKEA and Surya eased. In spices both Everest and MDH fell, and the lead passed to the one that fell less.

6 · Runs and the year

Brands on a three-month run

Most brands move up one month and down the next. A brand whose reading has moved the same way in each of the last three months is showing something steadier than a monthly swing. These are the brands reading 100 or more that have done that since June, largest first.

More brands are on a rising run than a falling one. Two motorcycle makers head the rising list, Yamaha and Royal Enfield, in the same month their larger rivals Honda and TVS fell. CRED has risen every month since June and is now among the twenty biggest gains. The falling list is led by two mobile phone brands, Samsung and OnePlus, while Mi, Motorola and Realme in the same category rose and Vivo, the category leader, barely moved.

Against September 2025

The year-on-year view rewards brands that have built, not just bounced. These are the brands that have added the most Buying Intent since September last year, among brands reading 100 or more in both months.

HDFC Bank has more than tripled its reading in a year and Vivo has doubled. Two of the ten are banks, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, and two are car makers, Hyundai and Tata Motors, which are ahead of last year even after their falls this month.

7 · Leaders

Who people trust most, and want most

Top ten, September 2026.

Dell leads on Trust and on Buying Intent, where its 1,626.7 is well ahead of the next brand, Amazon at 1,152.4. On Desire, LIC has moved ahead of Dell. Laptops, mobile phones and televisions each take two of the ten Buying Intent places.

LIC and HDFC Bank are in the Desire top ten but outside the Trust top ten. Honda is in the Trust top ten but outside the Desire top ten.

Leaders inside the larger super-categories

Top three brands by Buying Intent in each, September 2026.

8 · For marketers

What to take from September

1. Read your category, not only the national number. India moved −0.6, while Digital rose +8.6% and FMCG fell 12.0%.
2. Money brands are gaining, and have been all year. BFSI rose as a category, six money brands are among the twenty biggest gains, and HDFC Bank has added more Buying Intent since last September than any other brand.
3. Food & Beverage and FMCG have softened for three months and sit below last year. Brands there are competing for a smaller share of attention; the ones that rose, Lipton, Nescafé, Pond’s and Mamaearth, did so while their super-category fell.
4. Automobile gave back its gains, and the leader changed. Cars and motorcycles fell as categories. Maruti Suzuki leads cars only because it fell less than Tata Motors and Hyundai.
5. A run tells you more than a jump. Yamaha, Royal Enfield and CRED have risen every month since June. Samsung and OnePlus phones have fallen every month. Check which kind of month your brand just had.
6. Trust and Desire can part ways. LIC, HDFC Bank and Reliance Jio are wanted well beyond their Trust; Dell and Amul are trusted well beyond their Desire. Know which of the two your brand is short on before you spend.