The New Indian Consumer

As Indian economy opened to the global marketplace, many MNCs were quick to try and
grab the middle – class market, being ignorant of the fact, it was a tough job to pursue them
due to the low income, social and political conservatism, and the resistance to change. Yet,
things have changed as time flew. India constituting to nearly 1/5th of the world’s population
below 20 (the exuberant generation), increased the ranks of Indian consumer market.

Based on a survey to observe the attitude of Indian consumers, from 1996 to 2006, three key
insights have emerged.

Indian consumers – getting more materialistic

Traditionally Indians were stereotyped to be deeply spiritual. It no longer remains true.

Nearly 60% of India’s urban population follow adopted the ideology of “work hard get rich”.
Personal ambition, material success and achieving goals have become very important and
India has the highest working hours per week than many other countries like USA, Germany,
France etc.,.

Consumerism – becoming the way of life in India

Along with children’s education, Indians’ saving for expenditure related to electronics and
durables, and Travel and Entertainment, has grown over the decade and almost equal to that
of education. This holds true foe people from 15 to even 55. The demand for high-tech luxury
goods has been growing constantly, with mobile phone usage increasing by 1600% and
people having a personal computer increasing by 100%. The best feature of the Indian market
becomes, most of the people purchasing these products are first timers, signifying expanding
market, with the chances to grow even more, considering the chance of upgrades or new
purchases by current customers. Yet it is to be noted that with the low-income problem
existing it would take a very long time for India to convert from a need-based to a want-based
market. There is still scope for consumerism in the long run, with the motivation to earn
more.

Foreign is passé; India is paramount

Earlier Indians believed in the supremacy of foreign products. Over the decade, even though
this belief remained static, the belief of Indians on domestic companies has grown and it rose
from 34% to 56%. Made in India Concept has risen, and Indians started realizing that not all
foreign products satisfy their needs. 15 among the Top 20 trusted companies, in a survey,
turned out to be Indian. The other 5 could only make to the list only because of their
customized technology, meeting the needs of Indians.

Indians now are adopting to more modernization, along with certain traditional values. and
approaching in a simply traditional manner will no longer work. To conclude the nature of
Indian consumer market, has been confusing to the global market with the contradictions
within. Yet, Indian market exhibits it the significance of being open to new changes and
adopt to them without losing the old values. This complexity should be understood by the
companies in order to reap enormous benefits from the Indian consumer market and be
successful.