It was an interesting chat at home while making a shopping list before going to a local supermarket. My better half, as usual, was in command and said "we need to be careful in spending money as there is a slowdown in the economy". I politely nodded my head and toed the line. Men are very impulsive buyers and I got lured by an attractive offer on bathing soaps. On putting the same in the shopping basked she looked at me as if I was the biggest fool in the world. "Are you even aware that how many soaps are lying at home?" There was a serious message in there. Most households (by and large in India) hold a lot more than required at home. This, in my opinion, emanated from old experiences of shortage. I dug a few old notes and my past experiences from FMCG market visits. On doing a bit of survey (to camouflage inefficiencies of our house), the results were startling: On an average (of 4 households that I checked in Metroplitan, nuclear family with two kids, uppermiddl...
Moving on from the core theme of only consumers to a broader Indian complexity. An amazing country that can be challenging to understand due to its diversity - economically, socially, linguistically, racially and what not. Enjoy the THALI as they say....