Every app you look at these days has a premium version. From Spotify to Tinder, everyone wants more than what the mundane offers - and our country as a whole seems to feel this way.
Just like these apps have a premium version, with people increasingly opting to pay for it, India is shifting to a premium model as well. Whether that is the immense demand for expensive cars or the record-high number of luxury homes sold last year, despite inflation, India is upgrading.
Goldman Sachs even went out on a limb and made an optimistic projection about “Affluent India” over the next few years:
The number of people in India who make more than US$ 10,000 a year (Rs. 8 lakh a year) will double by 2027 from the current 6 crore individuals (4% of India’s working-age population)
This is even cooler in India’s case because a third of our populous is in their 20s and early 30s, with this section only set to grow, while our neighbours like China and Japan face a severe dearth of youth.
So higher incomes in the hands of the working population + youth entering the workforce = buying more expensive stuff! In fact, a few themes seem to be jotted down to do well within this premiumisation story, with some stocks in those spaces already feeling the heat!
Keep in mind that the Nifty 50 during this time gave only a 19% return (oops)!
While these might be the obvious reactions to adopting an affluent lifestyle, this trend permeates beneath the surface too - quite literally to the level of the water pipes in your walls (Astral selling high-end pipes) and the light switches on them (Havells’ selling switches with cool designs)!
From higher credit card subscriptions and more air travel to get those points up, to a growing trend of boutique restaurants and coffee shops doing well across metropolitan cities, an affluent India isn’t as far into the future as we think - and capitalising on these opportunities might just be the goose that lays a golden egg once in a while in your portfolio.
Even our portfolios had/still have a couple of companies inching towards the premiumisation way of life:
This story seems to play out despite the market dips because, as the famous saying goes, the rich always seem to get richer.
Speaking of which, for you to gain access to these narratives in the stock market as we think of them, might as well check out what we offer in our premium version here!