‘Middle class is surging ahead’

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Mumbai, Nov 5: The middle class is the great emerging class that is surging ahead. It is a force to be reckoned with. This was the succinct message that came across in a panel discussion on 4 Takes on Consumer India, at the Express Towers, Mumbai on Monday. At an event attended by the corporate bigwigs and the big names from the advertising fraternity, finance minister P Chidambaram released Rama Bijapurkar’s book, We Are Like That Only – Understanding The Logic Of Consumer India .

In a balmy evening, with a hint of moisture in the air, silk saris swished with black suits while the FM held his own in his inimitable style. The panel discussion comprised of eminent members such as Devidatt Patnaik, medical doctor and manager Ernst & Young, Surjeet Bhalla, managing director, Oxus Investment and a renowned optimist economist, S Sivakumar , CEO, agri business—ITC Limited and an architect of e-choupal, and Jaideep Sahani, screen writer and Hindi film lyricist. The discussion was moderated by the author, Bijapurkar herself.

Taking the theme of the Emerging Middle Class ahead, Patnaikh said, “There is a need to balance the spiritual and the material world. Wealth is also a root to liberation,” In spite of our lip sync towards spiritualism, we still prefer to bless offsprings and youngsters with “Dhan Danya bhava’ which in essence means to be blessed with material wealth. “Even our god is addressed as Laxminarayana which means we go through the route of wealth for liberation.”

Bijapurkar gave the floor to every panelist after a query she addressed to them. Each panelist answered after a clap of the take, reminiscent of a film. Bhalla said that the period between 1950-1980 was a real aberration for the nation. “The major revolution that has happened in India is the rise in stature of a ‘Woman’. This has been the major fundamental change in India in the last decade or so. The increasing participation of woman in the labour force will have a profound impact in the future of the nation.” Bhalla felt the size of the emerging middle class was ‘significant’. “The great emerging middle class was around 15% in 1996, which has now galloped to 37% at present. This has what has galvanized this nation in the global scenario.”