About INgene blog : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog

About INgene : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog:
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.

The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.








Saturday, December 5, 2015

Millennial Indians travels more to overseas destinations : youth in India



Millennial Indians (those born after 1980) like to travel abroad at least once a year and nine out of ten use their own savings to fund overseas trips, a survey has found.

This is in sharp contrast to the older generation, 88 per cent of whom hardly ever travelled abroad for leisure, the ICICI Millennial Travel Study said.

The survey, conducted among 1,049 respondents in the age group 25-35 years across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Kolkata revealed that Singapore is the most favoured destination, followed by the US and the UK.

A whopping 80 per cent of the respondents named culture and heritage as the main driver behind the choice of destination. Around 71 per cent considered health and hygiene conditions of a country before planning a trip against 41 per cent in the previous survey conducted in 2013.

Around 57 per cent of those surveyed preferred a multi-location trip, the main reason being packaged tours and better discounts offered by travel companies.

"Despite being aware and wanting to undertake multi-country trips, very few insure their travel, primarily because of lack of understanding of insurance benefits," ICICI Lombard General Insurance chief (underwriting, claims and reinsurance) Sanjay Datta said.

To a media query, he said ICICI Lombard had underwritten premium amounting to Rs 100 crore under travel insurance segment last year, which was likely to grow by 5-10 per cent in the current fiscal year.

The industry currently has a size of Rs 400-500 crore in the country.

Although 90 per cent millennials surveyed are aware of travel insurance, only 2 of 5 respondents purchased travel insurance for overseas travel, the primary drivers being medical emergency and luggage safety. The biggest problem most millennials felt they would face while travelling were safety issues.

A total of 52 per cent preferred to travel with their spouses, with Ahmedabad taking the lead. In fact, only 12 per cent of the country's millennials travelled alone. Around 79 per cent of millennials faced budget constraints and 39 per cent availed of finances for a trip abroad. Almost 47 per cent of millennials saw an increase in their overseas travel in future.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

reasons of increasing divorce rate among young Indians

The family court in suburban Mumbai is a ringtone-free zone. When an occasional cellphone sounds from among the rows of people waiting on the first floor, it is hushed by the security guard. "It's not for the judge we do this, it's for them inside," he says, gesturing to the door next to him. "They deserve some peace; this is an important hour in their lives."
The door leads to the office of the chief marriage counsellor. Every couple seeking a mutual-consent divorce in Mumbai must spend some time here, to explore whether their differences truly are irreconcilable.

Advertising executive Tejas Chakrabarty, 28, remembers this room vividly. "I first went there three months after my wedding," he says. "My wife, whom I had met through a matrimonial website, was continuing a preexisting affair with a married man. The counsellor tried very hard to convince us to give it another shot. But she was still in love with that man, and I was too betrayed to even think about it. We just sat there in silence for 45 minutes. Then we left and started the paperwork."

That was nine months ago. Chakrabarty knew his wife for four months before they got married. "She was a really great girl, and I was getting all this pressure to marry, so I thought, why not," he says. In retrospect, Chakrabarty says there were warning signs. "She was always a little secretive, and would never leave her phone unattended," he remembers. "She also had mood swings, was depressed sometimes, then over-compensated by lavishing attention on me." Chakrabarty and his wife are among thousands of couples in India seeking to end their marriages in the first few months or years, ending up divorced before the age of 30.
This is an unusual trend in a country where the divorce rate was just 1 in 1,000 ten years ago, and is still a relatively low 13 per 1,000 - as compared to the US average of 500 per 1,000. While India has no central or even state-wise registry of divorce data, family court officials say the number of divorce applications has doubled and even tripled in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Lucknow over the past five years (see box).
They cite a range of reasons - the waning influence of the family and joint family; the growing psychological and financial independence of women; late marriages resulting in a greater reluctance to compromise or change set ways and lifestyles.



The greatest difference, however, is in the willingness to end a marriage that is not working, say some counsellors.

"These young couples come to me with a totally different attitude," says Mumbai-based psychotherapist and counsellor Pallavi Bhurkay. "Earlier, couples would come to me to fix the marriage. Now, I have young couples who have come just to convince their family or partner that a divorce is the right decision."
Adds Aarti Mundkur, lawyer at the Bengaluru family court: "Has the number of divorces gone up? Of course. But has the breakdown of marriage increased? No. Marriages have been breaking down with much the same regularity over the years. But couples have been continuing with the marriage to keep up appearances. The growing rate of divorce is an indication that the stigma associated with it is on the wane."
Earlier, issues such as dowry demands, property disputes and family arguments would lead to applications for divorce, adds a family court counsellor from Mumbai. "Now we see young couples who want to separate because they cannot agree on who will do the chores, or because they have realised that they no longer like each other. Most of these are young couples in the first or second year of marriage."

Divorced before 30: 5 ex-couples explain what went wrong with their marriages

"He had very different expectations of a wife"
Marriage lasted:
1 month
Neha Jayant*, 29, met Brijesh Ahluwalia*, 29, through common friends in London six months ago. They were both investment bankers looking for a long-term commitment. “Right away, we entered into a relationship with marriage as the goal,” she says. A month in, in August, the couple returned to Delhi for their wedding. They then relocated to Toronto in Canada, where Brijesh’s parents live. One month later, Jayant packed her bags and returned to Delhi. “Brijesh had a very jealous streak,” she says. “It began spinning out of control. When I went to job interviews, he would criticise the length of my formal skirt and ask me lewd questions about what I was actually applying for. After a party hosted by his parents, he screamed at me for 45 minutes because I had spent 10 minutes talking to another man.” Jayant says she was in shock, and afraid that the verbal abuse would escalate into physical violence. “He was a completely different person after we got married. He had all these expectations of a ‘wife’ which he never had for a ‘girlfriend’,” she says.
The couple’s divorce is now in the process of being finalised.

"It was clear we were not meant for each other"
Marriage lasted: 3 years
He was quick-tempered; she was impatient. It should have been a warning sign, but they saw it as a symbol of all they had in common. They were both young, ambitious marketing executives in a rush to settle down. “We met through an ad in the paper,” says Anisha*, 25. “I posted the ad, looking for a life partner who would let me be me, let me work after marriage.” Amit*, 28, seemed perfect. They met, courted and married in 2012. The arguments started soon after. “Two years into the marriage, it was clear that we were not meant to be together,” says Anisha. A year on, the couple had secured a divorce. “It was the best thing for both of us,” says Amit. “Looking back, there were things we both did wrong. I would share minute details of our relationship with my parents, for example.” Now, Amit is not thinking of getting married again. “But if that happens, I will certainly work on my anger,” he says, “and try to find someone more patient.”

"He expected me to cook"
Marriage lasted: 18 months

They married after a whirlwind romance that lasted six months, only to develop a host of problems within the next year and a half. They now say the situation could have been different if they had allowed for a lengthier courtship. “We were both fresh out of failed relationships and in a hurry to get married. It was a thoughtless decision,” says Mahua*, 35, an IT executive. The couple differed in tastes and values. “He would expect me to get home from work and cook for him while he watched television. I was revolted at the idea of me toiling while he put his feet up,” she says. Also, she earned well and ended up paying for most of their common expenses. Mahua feels the couple might have stood a chance if they could have moved out of his parents’ home, but this suggestion caused a large uproar and she was accused of trying to break up the family. “That the husband and wife should love each other is a necessary but not sufficient condition. It is also important that the tastes and values match,” she says. In 2009, the couple got a divorce. They are now both happily remarried.
“This time, I have found someone who is what he says he is,” says Mahua. “I’ve learnt the hard way that you can’t change yourself, or someone else.”

"I suspect he was gay"
Marriage lasted: 3 months
Kaushani Mittal*, 26, met her ex-husband through a matrimonial website. Rajat* was 27, an architect based in Seattle. He came to Mumbai to meet her three weeks in. A month later, she flew to Seattle to marry him. “When we didn’t kiss even two months after our wedding, I began to wonder what was going on,” she says. Rajat told her he had intimacy issues and would need time. Meanwhile, his mother, who lived with them, began to pry and read their messages. “He had warned me that she was possessive. But he did nothing to help,” says Mittal. Three months in, Mittal returned to Mumbai and began divorce proceedings. “Though he still denies it, he is clearly gay,” she says. “It really took a toll on my self-esteem. It has made me develop trust issues, for which I’ve been in therapy.”

"He changed after the wedding"
Marriage lasted: 2 years
Rashmi*, 30, is still in shock that her seven-year relationship fell apart less than seven days after marriage. The two met in business school in 2006 and fell in love. “He was very affectionate and caring,” says Rashmi. “But he had always dreamed of moving to Mumbai to be an actor.” When the relationship became serious, the couple discussed how she could move to Mumbai with him, find a job, and support him while he looked for his break. They were married in 2012, with the consent of both families. “I noticed a change in his behaviour the day after our wedding,” says Rashmi. “He was no longer the loving, caring man I knew. And he wanted to move to Mumbai immediately.” When Rashmi said she needed time to quit her job in Lucknow and find a new one in Mumbai, he said she could stay behind. “This was less than a week after the wedding,” she says. Finally, Rashmi agreed to go with him for a short while. In Mumbai, he had friends he had never told her about. “He was acting like a big shot. It was like he never had any love for me.” Rashmi returned home. “For two years, I waited in Lucknow,” she says. “I can count on my fingers the number of times we spoke over the phone. We had very few meetings.”
Two months ago, she filed for divorce. Rashmi is now assistant general manager at a frozen foods factory; Rahul* is in Mumbai, seeking his big break.






(With inputs from Sudipto Mondal, Richa Srivastava, Arpit Basu and Danish Raza)

youngest startup ecosystem in the world - Bangaluru

As stated in a survey, Bangaluru has the youngest startup ecosystem in the world, with the average founder's age at 28.5 years. In Silicon Valley, the world's largest startup hub, the average age is eight years older than in Bengaluru at 36.2 years. Kuala Lumpur comes closest to Bengaluru, at 30.5 years, followed by Sao Paulo, 31.7 years, and Berlin, 31.8%. Sydney has the highest average age among startup founders, at 40.3 years, according to The Startup Ecosystem report by San Francisco-based Compass, a research firm that provides global benchmarking tools. "This industry itself is only five years old and a person with 15 or more years of experience or knowledge will not add value. Youngsters will understand them better. Venture capitalists also prefer younger entrepreneurs, those who are around 30 years of age," said Mohan Kumar, executive director at venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners India. The report noted that finds that Bengaluru moved up four positions to rank 15 in 2015 among the top 20 startup ecosystems, advancing from rank 19 in the 2012 ranking. It was amongst those who made the biggest leaps. Bengaluru saw the most growth in seed fund rounds over the last three years, with an annual average growth of 53%. It was followed by Sydney (33%) and Austin (30%). According to the report, which was compiled with the help of global startup database CrunchBase, Bengaluru has done well in the funding parameter with a rank of 6, just below Chicago.  Bengaluru accounts for more than a third of the over 1,000 global inhouse centres (GICs) - facilities that combine technology development with back-office functions - of MNCs in India. US oil and gas major Exxon Mobil, one of the world's biggest companies, is making a $400-500 million (Rs 2,500 crore-Rs 3,150 crore) investment in Bengaluru to establish a technical and business support services centre. Derivatives marketplace CME Group, which handles 3 billion contracts worth approximately $1 quadrillion (that's 1 followed by 15 zeros) annually, is said to be setting up a GIC in Bengaluru.  JCPenny, the leading American apparel and home furnishing retailer, L Brands, makers of lingerie brand Victoria's Secret, and Lowe's, the US-based home improvement and appliance store chain, have established technology captive centres here recently. Payments technology company Visa is establishing an inhouse R&D centre in Bengaluru that will hire 1,000 people over the next three years. Payments solutions major Network International, wholly owned by Emirates NBD Bank, is looking to hire 300 people in the city to set up a GIC.  alit Ahuja, co-founder of ANSR Consulting, a firm that's helping Fortune 500 companies establish strategic offshore captive centres in India, says Bengaluru has the right mix of talent, and contextual business expertise. 
The start ups are brewing up in other cities like Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai too. Bu the report states that Bangalore boasts an incredibly youthful startup ecosystem, with the youngest average founders’ age of all the top 20 ecosystems,”. Along with a strong IT infrastructure that brings large pool of techies and cosmopolitan culture, Bengaluru has other advantages in terms of educational and entrepreneurial institutes. For instance, it has has the science centre of India with more than 100 R&D centres, largest number of engineering colleges and a pleasant climate. It is also known to be the backbone of India’s outsourcing industry.

But in the flipside, Bangaluru might not be the hub of ‘most profitable’ start ups. Vijay Anand of TheStartupCentre  states that “Bangalore definitely hosts the highest density of startups, but I dont think it’s the startup hub of India. In terms of sheer “profitable” companies, for example, Delhi beats Bangalore hands down. Pune is an emerging ecosystem. Chennai has the maximum number of SaaS startups (is becoming the SaaS hub of India). The startup that is currently making waves and is an inspiration for many product companies emerging out of Chennai is Girish Mathrubootham co-founded Freshdesk. The provider of SaaS-based customer support platform for enterprises, has secured $44 million in funding till date which includes a $31 million in a Series D round of funding by investors Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners and Google Capital. Another startup from Chennai that has captured global attention is Indix. Founded by Sanjay Parthasarathy and Sridhar Venkatesh in 2012, Nexus Venture backed Indix is a big data startup that is building a catalogue of over 1 billion consumer products from all over the world. Their intention is to help brands to be able to compare their prices, thereby assisting them to make crucial business decisions.

So it feels like India is a multi-hub ecosystem, not a single location one,”. Though Bengaluru is an open ground for breeding entrepreneurs, other cities seem to be catching up soon. Pune and Chandigarh are believed to be at the forefront, some other also vouch for Chennai and Delhi.


As with its plurality, India never had a niche centric city and the its resources were non-independent, which means every start up might not find everything at the same place neither every type of start up will grow everywhere. Moreover, the talent pools too are scattered and segregated. For example, the south Indians states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra etc. are incredibly good in math, coding, numeric, measurement, architecture etc. where are the ideation , art, imagination are from states like Kerala, Bengal. The northern states are hardworking, confident and expressive. Gujrat and Rajasthan holds the best in business and commercial know-how. So, in future, the startup maps will see scattered concentration on expertise based clusters in various cities. 

Sunday, July 19, 2015

beyond city life: Youth trend in India



Today, was reading news at Times Of India which quoted Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI) survey report to note that four tier two cities, Coimbatore, Salem, Trichy and Madurai, will be the emerging hotspots and drivers of Tamil Nadu economy in the coming years. Well, this mirrors with another report published in Economic Times during the month of May 2015 which mentioned that the “top cities are no longer the preferred choice for real estate investment by young professionals, according to a recent survey by property research firm Track2Realty”. The ET report mentioned that “More than half of the respondents, about 57%, say they would prefer to stay in rented apartment in prime cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad and invest in cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Patna, Ranchi and Bhopal for better appreciation potential. As many as 70% with disposable income find a hill station or holiday home outside metro better to invest than to buying a second home within the city. Better return on investment in tier II and III cities, low rental values in metros and shifting job locations for youth were cited as the major reasons for this growing trend of investments in smaller cities.” The TOI report reflects the Govt’s mood to invest in Tire II cities. “tier II cities have never got their due though they collectively contribute more than 50% to the state economy's growth, said CREDAI Tamil Nadu president Ramesh Bafna. "Each one of the four tier II cities has a potential to attract investments to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore, provided the government, industrial bodies and developers give a collective push," he said. Promotion of tier II cities would help put brakes on migration of villagers to the state capital, said Akshaya MD T Chitty Babu. "All our tier II cities have adequate infrastructure to absorb big time investment. As large tracts of land are available at cheap rates, it makes economic sense to set up manufacturing hubs in these cities," said Babu.” 

Interestingly, another global report published by the Wall Street Journal in mid of January 2015 focuses on a trend which predicts a shift of Millennials from urban life to suburbs in USA.  It states “a survey based on responses from 1,506 people born since 1977, found that most want to live in single-family homes outside of the urban center, even if they now reside in the city.” The survey, which was released at the association’s convention in Las Vegas, found that 66% want to live in the suburbs, 24% want to live in rural areas and 10% want to live in a city center. One of the main reasons people want to relocate from the city center, she said, is that they “want to live in more space than they have now.” The survey showed 81% want three or more bedrooms in their home. Though the report states “The survey results, though, could be skewed because they included only millennials who first answered that they bought a home within the past three years or intended to do so in the next three years. That excluded young people who intend to rent for many more years, which is a large and growing group, in part because of hefty student debt and the tight mortgage-lending standards of recent years.” 

This reminds me of a focus group conversation which we have organized with 30 something young IT professionals in Chennai and Bangalore who had a prevalent dream of “becoming farmers.. soon”. Everybody wanted to have a “home” near to city (say, 2 hours of drive) and many even invested in purchasing lands. Well, they also stated that the ‘dream’ might be only to have a ‘weekend home’ cause the facilities they are habituated with (wifi, malls, AC, smooth roads, good restaurants etc.) might not be available in suburbs. 

In India, the millennials are still rooted with ‘city dream’ but the 30+ wants to “shift”, at-least in weekends.  Though Govt. plans to build better infrastructure but it seems to be far fetched dream cause, a city not only needs the infrastructure but also the ‘mindset’ to become liberal and accept ‘change’. This might be a rare phenomenon in SEC II cities. 



 

Interpretation matters! Youth surveys in India and misquoted data interpretation



Recently came across a report in Scoopwhoop which states that 41% youth in India thinks women must accept violence! Stunned after reading the title of this report “41% Youth Say Women Must Accept Violence….” I did a deep dive to understand the analysis process. The report quoted The Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) who studied 10542 youth and 757 social science teachers across 11 cities to understand attitudes of young Indian students towards ideals like "Rights & Responsibilities, Democratic Governance, Adherence to Civic Rules, Gender Equality, Diversity & Social Justice and Environmental Conservation. " after reading the qualitative survey report which was presented in a chart format I found nowhere it is mentioned that Indian youth says women “must” accept violence! Rather, the survey noted 41% youth agreed that women “have no choice but to accept a certain degree of violence”





Strange, how the same inference was portrayed in a different tone. Having ‘no choise” and ‘must accept’ do have different connotations. Also, I would like to know what the question was and what the options to select were. Also, if it was the open ended question then on which context this question was asked. The main website of the NGO who conducted the survey stated The Yuva Nagarik Meter (YNM) is CMCA’s pioneering national benchmark study to establish a baseline of democratic citizenship values and attitudes of youth in Urban India. Unfortunately the report is not available in the website to examine but it’s scary of how others interpret it with twist! 


Data interpretation indeed is crucial cause media doesn’t bother about survey but the inference. 


You can read the report here: http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/what-of-the-future/ and here’s the NGO who has conducted the survey : http://www.cmcaindia.org/yuva-nagarik-meter/