New Delhi, June 28 -- Step into a rooftop cafe in Indore or cruise through Coimbatore's villa-lined enclaves, and you'll notice a quiet transformation taking place. Affluence in India is no longer tethered to its traditional metro strongholds. Visa's recent whitepaper,Bridging the Gap: Payments in India Beyond Metros, brings this evolution into sharp focus. Credit card spending in non-metro cities has surged 4X between 2019 and 2024-outpacing metro growth and signaling a rising tide of premium consumption.

In fact, users in Tier 2 and 3 cities are now spending over Rs.2 lakh per card annually-more than three times the metro average. This isn't just economic expansion-it's a recalibration of where, and how, luxury is defined in India. Tod...