Henley Centre and IMRB Monitor India's Wallets

WPP companies the Henley Centre India and IMRB International have launched a new consumer tracking service known as Wallet Monitor, to map spending by Indian households. Initial results show the emergence of an 'individualistic, indulgent, happy and confident Indian consumer who enjoys spending money on personal grooming and entertainment'.

The study tracks spending across all categories, from FMCG to durables and services, and aims to classify consumers on the basis of spending habits and to monitor the effects of changes in lifestyle on spending patterns.

Overall, the monitor finds that an average urban Indian consumer invests 10% of his monthly income and spends 32% on everyday purchases such as groceries, followed by utilities such as electricity, fuel and laundry (13%). With the basics taken care of, 9% goes on personal grooming, and 8% on entertainment.

In terms of regions, the North spends more on investments (15%) compared with those in the South and West (8%). Those in the West and South spend the highest percentage on entertainment (10% and 9% respectively). At the same time, the South Indian consumer spends proportionately more on loans, taxes and rent (9% compared with 6% for the whole country).

Looking at social and economic class groupings, spending on entertainment is dominated by Class A (12% compared with 8% overall), while classes B and C spend higher proportions of their income on personal grooming (9%) than class A (7%).

According to Sian Davies, CEO of the Henley Centre, 'As markets mature, consumers move beyond materialistic products and goods and actually look at money to buy enriching experiences. We are seeing the beginning of this change in India as well. India is beginning to move from a product or feature-rich economy to an experience-rich economy.'

Henley Centre India was formed by the merger of Quadra Advisory, a leading strategic marketing consultancy in India with Henley Centre.

The Centre is online at www.henleycentre.com/india. IMRB International has offices in 13 cities in India and is online at www.imrbint.com . Both companies are part of WPP's information, insight and consultancy division..

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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