Affluent young Indians cruise the fast lane

Affluent young Indians cruise the fast lane

By Clarence Fernandez

BOMBAY (Reuter): The strobe lights cut through the thick smoke
in the swanky Bombay disco, picking out young people gyrating to
the sounds of computer-synthesized metallic music with little
discernible rhythm. A "rave" is in progress.

The young achievers of India's urban middle-class are flocking
to beaches and discotheques for these night-long parties, rocking
to Western music and mixing with Bombay's affluent chic set.

The craze was touched off early this year by the American soft
drinks giant Pepsi, which sponsored what it dubbed "raves" in
four major cities.

"It's a good way to relax and cool off after a hard day's
work," said Uday Sharma, 30, an advertising executive. And he
doesn't mind paying an entry fee of 750 rupees (US$24) to enjoy
himself.

Brogues, liquor and jewel-studded wristwatches are among the
other signs of the fast-accelerating wave of consumerism ushered
in by economic reforms that began in 1991, and contrast sharply
with the more ascetic times of independence leader Mahatma
Gandhi.

The fast life is a distant dream for many like the hand-cart
pullers at the city's Crawford Market, who earn only a few rupees
a day and sleep in rows on the pavements every night.

But for the affluent, Indian tastes, under the impetus of
reforms, are evolving rapidly. "Shoes will soon be sold like
toothpaste," said Harkirat Singh, proprietor of Woodland Shoes,
which saw turnover rise 50 per cent after it quadrupled
production last year.

As they voice concern over rising consumerism, the rightwing
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and leftist groups find
themselves on the same platform, with the BJP brandishing its
slogan "Microchips, not potato chips".

"The economic reforms must be more sophisticated," said
Prakash Karat of the Communist Party-Marxist. "Potato chips are
just the most visible manifestation of the flaws in the policy."

He said popular discontent, increasing because the reforms
failed to generate sufficient employment, would play a major role
in the general elections scheduled for next year.

"The discontent stems from the adverse impact of the reforms,
and its effects were demonstrated in the last round of assembly
elections," Karat said. "The Congress lost every major state
except Orissa."

Analysts interpreted the Congress defeat in five major states
that voted at assembly elections recently as a reflection of
popular disenchantment with the reforms, which have replaced the
old mantra of subsidies and self-sufficiency.

The Rao government had indiscriminately invited investment to
India in its desperation to boost the country's foreign-exchange
reserves, Jay Dubashi, an economist and leader of the BJP, said.

"They will have to pay the political price for their wrong
economic decisions," Dubashi said. "The government has learnt no
lessons from its failure in the assembly elections."

But he felt Rao's government could improve its election
prospects if it decided to restrict new investments to the
infrastructure sector.

"Investment in roads and power rather than in consumer goods
not used by the common man, will benefit everyone," he said.

Commerce Minister P. Chidambaram agreed that among the most
visible results of liberalization was a proliferation of premium
brands of consumer goods, particularly Western foods.

But rather than fueling discontent among the vast majority of
Indians who cannot afford these goods, he told Reuters, they
would help eliminate the market for smuggled items.

"There's no question of haves and have-nots," he said. "We're
talking of a market of about 300 million people. That's larger
than many countries. Just because most people can't afford them
is no reason to deprive everybody of good-quality stuff."

India's population is 950 million, of which about 300 million
are considered middle class and therefore wealthy enough to buy
most consumer goods.

Congress Member of Parliamentarian Mani Shankar Aiyar took a
different tack. "The foreign invasion of our consumer goods
market is a myth. Foreign investment approvals in mass
consumption items and services such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and
Pizza Hut is less than two per cent of all approvals," he said.

"Much less than one-tenth of approved investment in industry
and infrastructure is from outside the country, and actual
investment has been less than one-twentieth," he added.