Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar  was born in the city of Arrah in the Indian state of Bihar  17 March 1963. He grew up close to his birthplace in Patna  also in Bihar. There he spent his formative years at St.Michaels High School.In India, Kumar earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Hindu College Delhi University in 1984. He holds two master's degrees in Linguistics and Literature from Delhi University (1986) and Syracuse University (1988) respectively. In 1993, he received his doctoral degree from the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota.. He lives with his family in Poughkeepsie New York.
His debut novel, Home Products, was published by Picador-India, and was short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award. This novel was also published in the US under the title Nobody Does the Right Thing.
A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm ATiny Bomb, was judged the ‘Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year’ at the Page Turner Literary Award. Kumar’s earlier non-fiction titles are Husband of a Fanatic, which was an ‘Editors’ Choice’ book on The New York Times list; Bombay-London-New York, included on the list of ‘Books of the Year’ in The New Statesman; and Passport Photos, winner of ‘Outstanding Book of the Year’ award from the Myers Program.

The Cover

Kumar has edited five critical anthologies. The publications in which his work has appeared include The Nation, The New Statesman, Boston Review, Critical Inquiry, Harper’s, Kenyon Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Guernica
Kumar serves on the advisory board of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop as well as the Norman Mailer Center.
He is Professor of English at Vassar College in upstate New York.

Amitava Kumar, 50, believes that his home town of Patna actually has three avatars - the elsewhere city that lives in the imagination of those who, like him, left it behind;the nowhere city, filthy and frantic, that is inhabited by those who cannot leave it;and the city of hope for those who come from poor districts. He attempts to capture the essence of the city in a short biography, quite unattractively titled 'A Matter of Rats'. But Kumar, who teaches English at Vassar College in the US, says he wanted to write not about rulers but about rats, both the four-legged as well as the two-legged variety.
From an interview:-
From Megasthenes' eulogies to its magnificence to Shiva Naipaul's description of it as the 'heart of darkness', how difficult was it to chronicle the history of Patna's fall?

We learn history and everything else through textbooks. The approach is serious and dull. It lacks imagination. From the day I became a writer, I have tried to oppose everything bad about textbooks. My history of Patna is a personal one. I'll go even further. I'll call it a flawed portrait of a flawed city. The answer to your question is that it wasn't difficult at all. Once I had accepted that my history of Patna would be a mix of memoir and research, the writing became more easy and pleasurable.

My guide here was a mantra I received from V S Naipaul who had written in Beyond Belief: "It was years before I saw that the most important thing about travel, for the writer, was the people he found himself among. " Any teacher of non-fiction will tell you that the trick is to write about ordinary things in a way that is vivid and attractive for the reader. That is why I wanted to write not about our rulers but about rats. Rats, both four-legged and two-legged.

Extract from Amitava Kumar’s book A Matter of Rats

I would not have turned to writing if I was able to draw. When I was thirteen or fourteen, and attending school in Patna, I had not yet given up my ambition to become an artist. My earliest models were rulers and saints from our past. The teacher would be delivering his dull lecture on ancient Indian history, and I would try to copy, over and over again, the illustration printed in the textbook.
The Buddha posed a difficulty. The illustration in the book must have been based on a statue in the Gandhara style. His shapely eyes, shut in serene meditation, were the easiest to outline, and above them, the long arched eyebrows in flight; ditto for the full, feminine lips. The trouble began with the intricate, knotted rings of hair; and, it was altogether impossible to draw the perfect circle of the halo around his head.
Pataliputra, which later became Patna, was mentioned very early in that textbook, certainly by page twenty. The city was founded in the sixth century BCE by Ajatshatru, a monarch who was probably a regicide and a patricide. Until he built the fort-city at the confluence of the Ganga and Sone rivers, it was just a village named Pataligram. Gautama Buddha visited Pataligram shortly before his death and, if guidebooks are to be believed, delivered a prophecy that a great city would rise there.

Postmortem

[A three minute fiction by Amitava Kumar]

The nurse left work at five o'clock.
She had seen the dead woman's husband sitting, near the entrance, under the yellow sign that Doctor Ahmed had hung some months ago. "While You Wait, Meditate." He was sitting with his arms crossed, elbows cupped in the palms of his hands and hadn't looked up when she passed him on her way out.
Just before lunch, a convoy had come from the Army camp. A dark-skinned soldier, holding a small rifle in his left hand, threw open the office door and announced the Colonel. Doctor Ahmed had automatically stood up.
The Colonel was plump. He looked calm and extremely clean, the way bullfrogs do, gleaming green and gold in the mud. He put his baton on the table and asked the nurse to leave the office.
When Doctor Ahmed rang his bell, the nurse went back in and was told to get his wife, Zakia, from their home on the top floor. Usually, he just called her on the phone. The nurse hurried up, carrying news of the Colonel.
Doctor Zakia was a pediatrician, good for offering women advice about breast-feeding, but she understood at once why she was to do the postmortem. The soldiers put the stretcher in the operating room and left. When the doctor removed the white sheet, she made a noise and began reciting the Fatiha in a high voice. It was difficult for her to continue the examination — she had a grown-up daughter.
Then the nurse was alone with the young woman for over four hours, cleaning her of the blood and the filth, and then stitching her up. The abdomen and thighs had turned green, but this was expected. There was a pronounced swelling of the tongue and lips.
The nurse wondered whether the body would last till the funeral. If there was a protest, it would take the entire day in the sun for the procession to reach the cemetery.
A year ago, a doctor in the north had revealed that the corpse brought to him was of a woman who had been gang-raped. This was a mistake. The Army put out the story that the woman used to come to the camp for customers and that her husband found out and had probably got her killed.
In the warm and stuffy room, the nurse realized that her teeth were chattering. She stopped and for a long while stared at the back of her gloved hands. Then she turned them over, as if she were praying, and studied the film of dark coagulated matter on her fingers.
There was no slippage and still it was hard work. Doctor Zakia would probably tell the family that the body had been washed thrice. The women would nevertheless insist on doing what was proper. How was she to save them? No one teaches you in nursing school to cover cigarette burns on the body or to stitch torn nipples.
When she finally stepped out of the room she was startled to see a dozen soldiers in the hallway. She met the eye of the one closest to her and flinched, but he was quiet, even shy, like a dog that has brought in a squirrel and dropped it on the carpet.
At six, she was sitting in front of the television in her tiny living room. And there she was, the young woman in her wedding photograph. The newsreader said the body had been found in a ditch after the woman had gone missing for 26 hours. She had been struck sometime at night by a speeding vehicle.
Courtesy: Many sources

Amish Tripathi

                                                      Amish Tripathi

 Amish Tripathi  describes himself as “a 37-year-old, IIM (Kolkata) educated boring banker turned happy author.”  Tripathi’s unique combination of crackling story-telling, religious symbolism and profound philosophies has made him an overnight publishing phenomenon. Released in March 2010, Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy (of which two books, The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas have been published) has over 600,000 copies in print.
The surprising success of his debut novel, The Immortals of Meluha, encouraged him to give up a 14 year old career in financial services to focus on writing full time.  Tripathi’s marketing skills and strategies have been widely credited for the success of his novels. Weeks before The Immortals of Meluha hit the bookshops, Tripathi printed sample copies of the first chapter and persuaded bookshops and chains to give them away free. This gave the book very high visibility. To promote his second book, Tripathi created video trailers, which were screened at multiplexes along with mainstream films. He has also used YouTube extensively to promote his books.
He is currently working on the last book of the Shiva Trilogy, The Oath of the Vayuputras.

 Half a dozen grapes and four small slices of cheese lie on the plate opposite mine— filled with croissants. I meet Amish Tripathi at The Claridges in Lutyens’ Delhi. In town to launch the final book in his Shiva trilogy— The Oath of the Vayuputras, Amish sits through a series of interviews and photo shoots, before we meet for breakfast.

His publisher Westland Press has given him an advance of Rs.5 crore for his next book, even though Amish hasn’t decided yet what his next book is going to be. According to Westland, 4 lakh copies of The Oath…. have already been sold.

He declares, at the outset, that his trilogy is fiction, with religious references. “I have written it from the position of a devotee of Shiva,” he says.

His first two books, which have sold more than a million copies, have moulded Shiva into a superhero for contemporary readers. Amish says that this is not a new phenomenon as Indian mythological characters have constantly evolved for millennia. “My books are a very small contribution to Shiva’s greatness. While our myths and folklore are vibrant for thousands of years, Greek, Roman and Mesopotamian myths have died out. This is because we have constantly modernised our myths.”

The Shiva Trilogy takes the reader through mysterious locations of ancient South Asia. Amish himself is an avid traveller, although he admits food isn’t one of his many passions.

“My wife jokes that if she gives me some tablets which have the day’s nutrition, I couldn’t be happier. She is an awesome cook, sadly I can’t differentiate between flavours. I just eat to live. My comfort food is home cooked stuff like khichdi or sabzi-roti-dal,” he says.

When he travels, he sticks to the local food. “I usually explore outside the touristy parts. When you travel you must immerse yourself in local culture and food is a part of that. Even though I’m not interested in food, I like to eat whatever people over there eat. I don’t insist on Indian food, though I don’t have red meat or fish,” adds Amish.

The Shiva Trilogy will be remembered for its unique marketing strategies. Before the first book The Immortals of Meluha was released, its first chapter was distributed for free. The second book The Secrets of the Nagas had a trailer which was screened in multiplexes. The third book has a music video and a soundtrack by artistes like Taufiq Qureshi, Sonu Nigam, Palash Sen and Bickram Ghosh. There are editions being planned in larger font to cater to senior readers.

He says he doesn’t think of these while writing. “I don’t think of readers or anyone. It corrupts the flow. After this draft is sent in, we think of marketing strategies. It’s childish to think that a good book sells itself… Frankly, I did not think my book would sell, let alone become a best seller,” he explains.

His method to success is to write on what he is passionate about. “I am interested in history and mythology. I am also excited about genetics and the universe. I pick up on theories on these. My future work too will be in this field.”

When it comes to food though, the eclectic works best. “I order the thali if I have to eat out. Some one else makes the decision. It’s too much of an effort going through a menu,” says Amish.

Alyque Padamsee

 Alyque Padamsee

Alyque Padamsee

Alyque Padamsee is a multi-faceted genius who wears 3 hats. One, as the Brand Father of modern Indian advertising and has built over 100Brands. Two, he is the guru of English theatre in India with over 70 major productions to his name.  Three, he is very committed to Public Service work, and is currently guiding the Bombay Police Force in a campaign against Eve Teasing and sexual molestation on the city streets.

The President of India conferred on him the Padmashree Award. The Advertising Club named him Advertising Man of the Century

He has worked as Communications Advisor to Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh State, where he creatively supervised the presentation to President Bill Clinton and also Prime Minister Tony Blair.

His best-seller book on Advertising entitled a Double Life is prescribed in business school.

Mr Padamsee has been a Communications Guru for over 5 decades. He is the Chairman of The London Institute of Corporate Training. He is a renowned Speaker at National and International Conferences.

He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and over half dozen other Lifetime Achievement Awards.

He was born into a traditional Gujarati-Kutchi Muslim family, but describes himself as an agnostic who disinherited his religion at the age of 18

A Double Life (autobiography) Padamsee created Lalitaji for Surf, Cherry Charlie for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, the MRF Muscle Man, the Liril girl in the waterfall, the Kamasutra couple, Hamara Bajaj, the TV detective Karamchand, the Fair & Handsome brand, etc. Recently he created the Idea of a Fatwa against Terrorism which was announced by the Grand Mufti of the Deoband Uloom. Furthermore for the Golden Jubilee of The Indian Institute Technology Bombay his Idea of starting an initiative to create 10 Great Ideas That Will Change The World In The Next 50 Years caused a great deal of excitement. He is also working on AIDS Prevention Idea with the Dept. of Biotechnology.Padamsee is CEO of AP Advertising Pvt. Ltd., the well-known Image and Communications Consultants, who have provided consultancy services to a number of national and multinational companies, as Creative Advisor.

For 14 years, Padamsee was the Chief Executive who built Lintas India to be one of the top agencies in the country. He went on to become the Regional Co-ordinator of Lintas South Asia.

• Known as the Brand Father of Indian advertising, Padamsee has built over 100 brands.
• Padamsee is also the guru of the English Theatre in India and is famous for his Theatre productions like Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tuglaq, and his latest, Broken Images, which was invited to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC recently.^] He was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre by the Sangeet Natak Akademi; and this January the Tagore Ratna.
• Internationally, Mr.Padamsee is well-known for his portrayal of Muhammad Ali Jinnah  in Sir Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. He is also the only Indian to be voted into the International Clio Hall of Fame, the Oscars of World Advertising.
• He works as a Social Activist for the Citizens for Justice & Peace, the Citizens Action Group, and he is on the Advisory Council of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay).
• The President of India conferred on him the Padmashree Award. The Advertising Club of Mumbai named him "Advertising Man of the Century".
• Earlier he worked as Communications Advisor to Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh State.
• Recently he was appointed to the Prime Minister's AIDS Task Force (Earlier served as Advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Commercial Television).
• His best seller book on Advertising entitled A Double Life is prescribed in business schools.
• Padamsee has been a communications expert for over four decades. He is the Chairman of the London Institute of Corporate Training at which he conducts courses on leadership training and ideation for institutions like Tata Steel, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Harvard Business School, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte and over a dozen other renowned corporations.

Received Rabindranath Tagore RATNA from Sangeet Natak Akademi

Mr

Paisa vasool[a follow up]

You might have noted this blog named Authors India mentioned  about a totally different person in the earlier entry. Actually we intend to introduce  not alone writers, poets ,historians, musicians and other people of importance in specific fields; there are others.Marketing personalities, financiers who help to roll the wheel of money which rules the day of  present.
As a follow up to the previous entry we wish to some more.

BCG’s managing director Michael Silverstein and head of consumer (South Asia) Abheek Singhi.

 

Bangalore: Michael Silverstein , managing director at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Abheek Singhi , head of consumer (South Asia), co-authored (with two others) a book called The $10 trillion Prize, which predicts spending in India and China on consumer goods and services will together triple to $10 trillion (around Rs.524 trillion today) a year by 2020. The consultants, who work with the world’s biggest retail and food companies, spoke in an interview about consumer-buying patterns globally amid the economic slowdown, foreign investment in India and how acquiring companies is the right strategy for foreign firms entering India. Edited excerpts:

How has consumer spending trended worldwide amid the global economic slowdown?

Silverstein: We just did a survey of several thousand consumers in China, India, the US and the UK. Chinese and Indian consumers remain positive and optimistic about the future. More Chinese intend to spend more than Indians, but not by much. So it’s China first, followed by India, then the US and the UK.

Are consumers trading up or down? Which sectors have held up well relatively?

Silverstein: In the US, the car market has been booming. The housing market, where three-four years ago there was a deadening silence, is alive and vibrant. The sector that is a little bit depressed is grocery. There’s a huge amount of segmentation in the US. About 25% of Americans are under extreme financial pressure. They’ve seen no recovery. About 25% of Americans think the recession ended a year ago and things are good. The rest are waiting to see who becomes the president.

Singhi: In India, consumer product companies have been largely unaffected (by the wider economic problems). From a growth perspective, the packaged foods sector has done really well. Consumer durables have done reasonably well. There has been postponement of repeat purchases. For example, in entry level TVs and washing machines, growth has been great, but the repeat purchases have slowed.

What advice are you giving to the companies?

Silverstein: We are telling them to fasten their seat belts. Hold on for a while, but overall, the time between now and 2020 is going to be fantastic. Make a set of deliberate investments, don’t be speculative. Add capacity cautiously (in developing economies). In the US, there is no need for capacity growth, so few companies are making capital investments for growth.

You travelled around India and China during the course of writing your book. What are the three key insights that you picked up that are unique to the Indian consumer?

Silverstein: The uncanny thing about the youth of India is that they all want to have more than what their parents have; 80% of Indians believe that the next generation is going to have a better life than the prior generation. Whereas in the US, only 20% believe so. Second, I’m a big believer in the Indian phrase paisa vasool (value for money), which is a global export from India. Indian consumers are frugal. They’ve always wanted to have more for less. Third, there is going to be a tripling in the consumer goods market in India and China between now and 2020.

What is unique about the Indian consumer wanting value for money? How is that different from the West?

Silverstein: American consumers have not been very value-oriented. For years and years, they were willing to take middle-market goods that were average quality, had product deficiencies, but had fat margins. An example is Chevrolet. If you compare it with Toyota’s Camry in quality, reliability and features per value, you’d find that 15 years ago, Toyota had an overwhelming operational advantage. With paisa vasool, that market is being destroyed. There’s a trading up and trading down phenomenon. Paisa vasool is a concept invented in India and applicable across the world.

Which sectors in consumer products will be the fastest growing in India over the next decade?

Singhi: The fastest growing sectors are going to be the ones related to education and leisure. One thing that we found in our research is that consumers are willing to stretch themselves most on education. That’s the one thing they see as their children’s ticket to a brighter future.

Was there excitement among your clients when the recent foreign direct investment reforms in retail were announced?

Silverstein: All our clients are excited about the growth in India. But it’s a more complicated story than one move opening the market. Our clients look at India as a complicated country with many different states and much regulation, and a lot of people (politicians) saying ‘we’re open’, and then blocking the door. So it will take more to get a cascade of activity.

One of the effects of the boom in consumer spending in India and China is what you have called the boomerang effect (where demand in India and China is going to drive up commodity prices worldwide). Could you elaborate?

Silverstein: With minor increases in demand, when supply is fixed, prices skyrocket. When you see minor drops in demand, prices plummet. We’re telling our clients: you have to be ready for massive changes in commodity prices. In order to deliver profitability, you have to be ready to change your prices very quickly.

You’ve said one of the best ways to deal with the boomerang effect in India is to buy companies. Why?

Singhi: If you look for successful consumer companies in India and China both...there aren’t many. Unilever is extremely successful in India, but not that much in China; P&G, the other way round.

The companies which are successful in both markets are the ones that have used the acquisition route. Kraft is an example. Our research has shown that in India, in the consumer space, if you are below $250 million (in annual sales), you’re below the minimum efficiency scale if you’re a national player.

Will there be a boom in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the consumer space in India? Which sub-sectors will see a lot of activity?

Singhi: We’ll see an increase from what we’ve seen in the past. I’m not sure if there’s going to be a boom because if you look at the available set of players, it’s not that long a list. The one key driver of M&A growth will be private equity investments. There are close to 100 brand equity investments which have been made by (private equity firms) ranging from $5 million to $25 million in the last two to three years. 

Note:They are related with Food, Personal Care and related categories

 Source: Live Mint

Abheek Singhi and a $ 10 trillion prize

Abheek Singhi 

Abheek Singhi

Abheek Singhi leads Boston Consulting Group’s consumer and retail practice in Asia Pacific. He has worked in emerging markets like India, China, South East Asia and Middle East in addition to US and Canada for more than 15 years.
He has co-authored the bestselling book The $10 Trillion Prize and also authored several seminal reports on the Indian consumer and retail sectors – including The Tiger Roars , Building a New India and Agribusiness: Cultivating New Opportunities.
A member of the National FMCG Committee and the National Retail Committees of the Confederation of Indian Industry for several years, Singhi was selected by the Aspen Institute to be an India Leadership Initiative Fellow.

 The Message of the book

A must-read for those wanting to tap the markets of India and China, The $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India is a portrait of the world’s biggest buyers of cars, mobile phones, appliances and other products and services. Who these consumers are, what they buy, their aspirations, how to fulfil those needs, with all that backed up with facts, figures, strategies and research, the book makes for a comprehensive study on the two markets.

In the initial chapters, authors Michael J. Silverstein and co-authors Abheek Singhi, Carol Liao and David Michael give an account of the various kinds of consumers, including the middle-class, millionaires and the poor. With stories of real people and families from the two countries, the authors then go on to profile preferences, appetites and aspirations of these people. In the concluding chapters, the book suggests ideas for business leaders who are entering these markets and trying to position their companies there.

While Silverstein is one of the founders of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), an international strategy and general management consulting firm; Singhi heads the India practice of BCG; Liao heads the China consumer practice; and Michael leads the global advantage practice. In an email interview, Singhi gives us a glimpse into the life of the Indian and Chinese consumer as well as a perspective of what the next decade will be like for these countries and those doing business here. Edited excerpts:

What made you write a book that clubs China and India as a market?

             Market matters: Abheek Singhi.

These two markets represent the two largest consumer growth markets for companies across the world. The questions that we kept on hearing from many of the business people we meet were—“How are India and China really the same (or different)? Will the winning strategy in India be the same as China (or vice versa).”

We felt that no book had truly focused on the vital force that will transform these countries and their economies in the decade ahead—namely, the new consumers. Or shown how companies can capitalize on these new opportunities.

No one has written clearly about these consumers’ hopes, dreams, and ambitions. No one has closed the loop on income growth, education, jobs, and the net expansion of markets for food, apparel, housing, transportation, healthcare, education and financial services. This book aimed to fill such gaps.

Highlight some similarities and differences that you came across while discovering this portrait of the Indian and the Chinese consumer.

First, consumers in both countries have a sense of energy, ambition and optimism that is infectious. More than 80% of Chinese and Indian consumers feel that their lives will be better off in the next 10 years. They believe that their children will have a better life than theirs. The number in the US is 25%. Second, people in both countries believe in education as an investment for the future. The importance that parents, across all income classes, provide to education is very similar. Third, while we are familiar with the diversity in India—the diversity in China is also high—with many regional variations in tastes and preferences.

At the same time, there are differences. First, from a consumer income and spends perspective, China is about seven years ahead of India on an average. The difference is more at the premium end (10 years or so) and lesser at mass levels (four to five years). Second, the difference in family structure results in different behaviours. In China, given the high proportion of working women, the family has typically 1.8 working adults earning and spending for a family of slightly more than three. There are four grandparents spending on an only grandchild. In India, it is usually 1.3 working adults earning and the spends are spread over a family size of more than five. Put simply, the Chinese family has more discretionary spends available.

The luxury market in China is significantly bigger than in India. What is keeping Indians from wanting the “fabulous life”?

The luxury market is larger in China, first, because the number of upper income households in China is more than 2.5 times that of India. Second, even for the same household, the discretionary spends are higher in China due to lesser children. We came across several consumers in our research where youngsters who were at their first job would spend three months of their salary to buy a bag or watch since all the other expenses were borne by the parents. Third, the number of working women is high in China.

That being said, there is also the supply side dynamic that has driven the Chinese market. Many Indians who can afford luxury prefer to buy overseas due to lack of options in India today. Our book profiles an affluent Indian consumer who actually goes to Dubai to purchase luxury goods. If the supply side obstacles get addressed, the Indian luxury market could become significant in the next decade. As an example, the sales of BMW in China in 2001 is similar to their sales in India in 2011-12, and LVMH (LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA) today has the same number of stores in India as they had in China 10 years back.

Apart from the millionaires and the middle class, you talk about the “left-behinds”. Are they potential consumers in the coming years?

Today the numbers of left-behinds or below the poverty line are nearly 450 million in India and 210 million in China. Over the next 10 years, 280 million Indians and 200 million Chinese will move out of poverty and emerge as part of the consuming class. But even those who are left behind over the next 10 years should not be discounted as consumers. We are careful to distinguish between two types of lower classes: the truly poor, who are often penniless and without hope, and the aspirant poor with real prospects for income improvement—the next billion. They have jobs and varying levels of education, but below-average incomes.

A few companies are beginning to engage these consumers by actively developing customized products and services. These companies aim at entry-level price points and acceptable quality. 

 Power of the purse controlled by women around the world

According to a BCG study, in the US, women control 73% of the spends, in China 52%, while the Indian women control 44% of the spend. Compared to most other markets, the female consumer in India is still at an early stage. However, this is changing. Women are already the major buyer and influencer in categories like food, clothing, housing, haircare but still low in categories like durables, car, and other financial products. In summary, the rise of the female consumer in India will happen but would take some more time.

                                                        The Book