Published: Mint dated 20 th December 2010

The heterogeneity
that characterizes
the modern Indian
consumer has
created a maze
that marketers
would like to
unravel in order to
target their
products and
services precisely.
In this fortnightly
series, Indicus
Analytics will
present the various
facets of urban
consumers, across
geographies and
socio-economic
groups

Indicus Consumer Data Products

The categorization of consumers by life stage and socio-economic classification (SEC) of the chief wage
earners of households creates small seg- ments with definite characteristics. There are around 1.2 million
households in ur- ban India whose chief wage earners are in their younger years (the majority are less than
35 years of age), single or married, but without children, and whose occupa- tional profile is skilled worker.
The SEC C segment, where the chief wage earner is a skilled worker and educational qualifica- tion limited
largely to school, comprises a little more than 20% of the urban house- holds in India.

Households with chief wage earners in

their younger years form a little more
than 10% of this segment and
household sizes are for most part
small--three-quarters of the
households in this segment have just
one or two members. Given the low
edu- cational profile, small household
size and the fact that the chief wage
earner is on the early steps of the
career ladder, house- hold incomes
are usually less than `3 lakh per
annum. There are only a few house-
holds where income exceeds `10 lakh
per annum and these are
concentrated in Mumbai, Delhi and
Thane. North 24 Par- ganas,
Bangalore, Pune and Lucknow are
other districts whose urban areas offer
good scope for young skilled workers
to earn in higher income brackets.
Though the chief wage earners are mostly those who have finished higher secondary school, there are some
who have attended college for basic degrees as well. Most of the skilled workers in India have not undergone
formal training in vocational institutes, they have learnt from family or in small businesses. Whatever their
educational qualifications, it is clear that these households will give all possible support to ensure their
children, the next generation, complete school and college as well.
The majority of chief wage earners have regular salaried jobs, less than a quarter have struck it out on their
own. It is, of course, in smaller towns that the share of self-employed is larger than in cities, where jobs are
more easily had. Around 20% of the chief wage earners have jobs in government or large private companies,
indicating the opportunities available for those with skills. The main sector for employment here is
manufacturing, followed by trade, public administration and trans- port and communication.
In this segment, households with senior citizens are very few and would be joint families, the consumption
pattern would therefore be dictated by the chief wage earner who would be saving for a large family when
children arrive on the scene.
Most of the households live in rented houses and penetration of consumer durables is also low for high-ticket
goods such as cars and microwaves.
These households first pick up two- wheelers and, of course, TV sets are al- most ubiquitous in
urban households. Naturally, media penetration is highest through TV, and, interestingly, time
spent on the Internet is more than on newspa- pers, with the radio coming a distant third. The
presence of Internet cafes in all small towns and every locality of large metros is a pointer to
this demand com- ing in from the younger set, who surf the Net for entertainment, news and
jobs.
Another highlight of the
consumer du- rable demand is
that two-wheeler pene- tration
is highest in the smallest
towns, where public transport
may not be a good and
convenient option. Towns such
as Erode, Hisar, Dibrugarh and
Rajkot have high two-wheeler
penetration in this seg- ment.
Towns such as these are found
all across the country, pointing
to the wide- spread demand in
urban India.