Dilip D at How the Other Half Lives digs up some statistics on Indian demographics and questions the composition of the middle class. One of the pertinent questions he raises after citing the figures, is whether we belong to the middle class and how is it defined?
A Little Wit. A Little Wisdom. Lots of India.
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Gaurav
Jun 3rd, 2006 at 2:49 am | #
I remember researching this for a project during my MBA, and the National Sample Survey defined the overall middle class as households whose annual income is between 75,000 rupees and 75 lakh rupees (roughly). On the basis of this, the number was put at around 25 crore.
The term “salaried middle class” is just a small subset of “middle class”, since it refers to the members of the organised work-force. In other words, people who pay income tax. This I would estimate is just about 2-3 crores.
The remaining are self-employed, or run businesses, etc.
However from the persepctive of a marketing executive, there are several parameters used to define the middle class. Some consider owning a vehicle and entry into the middle class. Some consider owning a mobile phone. all are usually consumption-derived definitions.
I actually find the 6 criteria in the 1/6 rule for filing income tax returns to be a good parameter to decide if someone is in the middle class.
Of course within middle class, there are classifications as well.
By the way, something interesting – the growth in the middle class has been in rural india and on small towns, over the last 5 years. All FMCG companies say that is where the growth is coming from.