17.
I counted.
Ignoring essentials like internet, electricity, rent, insurance, and mobile phone plan, I pay for 21 products/services regularly.
Rs 1,12,416.
That’s how much I spend across these 17 subscription products. Breakdown below:
| Product / Service | Frequency | Total Annual Charge |
| Netflix | Monthly | 9,600 |
| Tata Sky | Yearly | 3,600 |
| Hotstar | Yearly | 999 |
| Amazon Prime | Yearly | 999 |
| Paytm First – Level 2 | Yearly | 1,499 |
| The Ken | Yearly | 2,900 |
| ET Prime | Yearly | 2,499 |
| Hosting | Yearly | 2,000 |
| NameCheap – Domains | Yearly | 1,200 |
| Youtube Premium | Monthly | 2,160 |
| Swiggy Super | Yearly | 3,948 |
| Big Basket BB Star | Yearly | 1,198 |
| Urban Clap Wellness | Yearly | 699 |
| The Hindu | Yearly | 499 |
| Google Email | Monthly | 1,416 |
| Amex Platinum Card | Yearly | 70,800 |
| Close Dental Platinum Membership | Yearly | 6,400 |
Given the propensity for most businesses to move to a subscription basis, I expect the number of subscriptions and money spent to keep increasing.
Why Are Companies Switching to Subscription Model?
For a business, recurring subscriptions help maintain a healthy cash flow.
Since a subscription model spreads the cost over a longer period, products and services become more affordable. Thereby, more people can become paid subscribers.
Take the example of Zoomcar’s Zap Subscribe.
If you were to subscribe to a Zoomcar, the total cost of ownership over three years would be 111% more than if you were to own the car!
Glanza Cost of Ownership – Bought Car
| Year | Service | Insurance | EMI | Opportunity Cost |
| Year 1 | 1,500 | 40,000 | 1,91,220 | 9,100 |
| Year 2 | 4,000 | 25,000 | 1,91,220 | 9,737 |
| Year 3 | 4,000 | 25,000 | 1,91,220 | 9,782 |
| Total | 9,500 | 90,000 | 5,73,660 | 28,619 |
Assumptions:
- On-Road Cost – Rs 8.8 Lakhs; Downpayment – Rs 1.3 Lakhs; Loan Rs 7.5 Lakhs
- Investment return for downpayment @ 7%
- Loan interest rate @ 10%
Cost of Ownership Comparison
Assuming you can sell the car at a 50% value, here’s the cost comparison for three years.
| Year | Zoomcar Subscription | Own Car |
| Year 1 | 2,75,988 | 3,71,820 |
| Year 2 | 2,75,988 | 2,29,957 |
| Year 3 | 2,75,988 | 2,30,002 |
| Sale Price | 0 | 4,40,000 |
| Net Cost | 8,27,964 | 3,91,779 |
For Zoomcar, it’s profitable to lease you a car. However, as an end consumer, it’s a loss for you compared to owning a car.
That doesn’t mean subscriptions are bad for you.
Depending on how long you subscribe to, certain products can be beneficial for you. E.g., if you are temporarily moving to a city for six months, you can rent furniture from Furlenco, a car from Zoomcar, etc. without having to spend a lot of money.
How to Better Manage Your Subscriptions?
#1: Track your subscription spends
The easiest way to manage your subscription is to keep track of them manually in an excel sheet.
#2: Review your subscriptions every three months
Chances are, there are some subscriptions you might not frequently be using. You might even have overlapping subscriptions – For e.g. Amazon Prime Music and Gaana.
Cut them out.
#3: Switch to annual plans
Most subscription businesses offer annual plans. Often, paying every month will be costlier than paying annually. If you are sure you’ll use the service frequently, evaluate paying for yearly subscriptions.
Over To You:
How many subscriptions do you have? Is there any other strategy you have found to manage your subscriptions better? Share with us in the comments below.
Either you are lying or you are not as smart as you claim. Times Prime has always included Gaana+ in it, so nobody really pays for both.
Similarly one year Amazon Prime has been rolled into PostPaid plans, and it can be extended indefinitely by simply switching the operator through MNP.
Hi Vikram,
Thank you for your response.
I never claimed to be smart 🙂
But that aside, let’s look at your observations. Times Prime includes Gaana. Yes, it does. I no longer use Times Prime. However, when I used it, it did not show this feature. Maybe this addition is new – or maybe I did not qualify for this offer at that time.
Now, Amazon Prime being rolled into PostPaid plans. I don’t use Postpaid. The majority of India uses pre-paid (85% in Metros and can go as high as 98% in some circles). So that point is moot. And it’s not easy to do MNP indefinitely. Not everyone will have the same connectivity option with the 3 major providers. This is a bit of an unrealistic scenario.