IndiaRetailBiz

India, according to P Chidambaram, Union Finance Minister, is well on its way of becoming a middle income nation by 2025, when its current annual per capita income will rise four-fold from $1,000 to $4,000.

Chidambram was speaking at a function held in Mumbai on Wednesday to launch marketing expert Rama Bijapurkar’s book entitled “‘We are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India.” , written by Rama Bijapurkar.

We have already proved global pundits wrong as an earlier BRIC report forecast of India touching per capita income of $800 by 2010 has already been shattered as our per capita income has already touched $1,000 this year, he added. Incidentally, the same BRIC report, which identified Brazil, Russia, India, and China as emerging economies had predicted an annual per capita income of $1149 by 2015.

“India is a fast changing market driven by people’s aspirations to lead a better life and move up the ladder. This aspiration is breaking down class and caste barriers,” he said. “India is a fast changing market, which cannot be captured in a series of articles, essays or books. By the time a book is written, edited and published much of what has been written would become outdated. This makes India an exciting place to be in,” the Finance Minister said.

Markets will move faster than trade analysts and marketing heads of large companies to comprehend, asserted Chidambaram.

The book, attempting to help understand the psychology of Indian consumers, tries to provide answers to questions like what makes the Indian market untenable and would India really be the next consumption powerhouse of the world, would be of equal help to both the market anaylsts and the policy makers, hoped Chidambaram.