McKinsey's Global Institute has just released a
report on India's consumer market. There is an executive summary as well as the full report, available for free download (although you may need to register yourself to access these). The study projects the growth and changes in the composition of India's consumer markets from today through 2025. The highlights include the following projections about the market in 2025:
- India will be the fifth biggest consumer market. If India continues on its current high-growth path over the next two decades, income levels will triple, and India will climb from its position as the twelfth-largest consumer market today to become the world's fifth-largest consumer market by 2025.
- The middle class will increase tenfold. As Indian incomes rise, the shape of the country's income pyramid will also change dramatically. Over 291 million people will move from desperate poverty to a more sustainable life, and India's middle class will swell by more than ten times from its current size of 50 million to 583 million people.
- Marked shift away from basics towards discretionary spending. Indian spending patterns will evolve, with basic necessities such as food and apparel declining in relative importance and categories such as communications and health care growing rapidly.
The full report has a wealth of data that will be a useful reference for anyone interested in the Indian consumer market.
