Is the Tendency to Overspend Money on Luxury a Healthy Sentiment for Growing India?

Whether it is about flaunting branded diamond jewelry or being a techno freak and splurging on high-tech mobile phones and electronic gadgets, driving around in sedans and SUVs of top International automobile brands or dining at luxurious five star hotels, the Indian luxury market has witnessed a sharp rise touching a whopping 8.5 Billion Dollars as stated by a recent paper of ASSOCHAM.  Consumer luxury goods, personal care, jewelry and hospitality sectors have shown an upward growth curve in spite of the global economic slump. And this trend is speculated to continue for the upcoming three years with a growth rate of over 15 to 20 percent which is estimated to go beyond $14 Billion.

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Secretary General of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India D.S. Rawat noted, “A young demographic profile, growing number of millionaires and billionaires and aspirational integration with the globe are all among the driving factors for the luxury markets which see a big potential in India.

Since the high-end products and life styles are not price elastic, they don’t get much affected by the slowdown.”  Sectors like Automobiles has been estimated to see as much as 30 to 35 percent growth in its luxury car segments in the next three years while that of branded wines has shown a probability of depicting 30 percent growth in the major cities including the metros.

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The percolation of mobile technology and internet, globalization as well as changing trends of depending on consumer goods like electronic goods majorly witnessed among the youths have contributed to this tremendous growth in the luxury lifestyle segments. However, whether this trend of over spending and splurging on goods coming with big ticket prices will prove healthy for Indian economy is something which needs to be dwelled upon.

Considering that most of these luxury items belong to International brands and manufacturers the question arises, will they be able to do justice to the native Indian goods such as handicraft items? And if today’s youth continue to binge on mobiles, gadgets and five-star hotel pamper sprees, will it leave them with sufficient money to fend for themselves in latter part of their lives post superannuation?

While it is natural for today’s generations to covet such luxury items in order to keep pace with the current global trends, they should also be made aware of the necessity to save for the rainy days. With economic recession foretelling dwindling financial markets it is worthwhile to cache some amount for the emergency funds rather than being extravagant with a devil-may-care attitude.

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