The Change Mariner

Upwardly Mobile India

Reuters:

Dinkar Marla is just thirtysomething but he already has everything his father still dreams about: a house of his own, a snazzy car and a state-of-the art laptop.

Though part of a very small slice of India, the upwardly mobile chartered accountant leads a charmed life: he travels a lot and spends his weekends clubbing or at the movies in one of the spanking new malls that have sprung up near Delhi.

"Today, people have a lot more cash at a much younger age and they're willing to spend it to make a statement," laughs Marla.

"The whole economy has grown substantially and has become more receptive to a consumerist culture with mobile phones and cars."

Marla is a part of India's growing middle class that has shed the Gandhian frugality of previous generations and begun chanting a brand-new mantra: spend, spend, spend.The signs of change are everywhere: walk into any of the glitzy shopping malls that have mushroomed in Bombay or Delhi and India's middle class is snapping up everything from mobile phones and home theatre systems to French perfume and diamond jewelry.

Posted by Bob King at February 8, 2004 07:07 PM | TrackBack
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