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.








Tuesday, March 8, 2011

post-recession youth in India

The recession and the mythical fear of the ‘pink slip’ that accompanied it actually made the youth in India more confident and motivated about starting up their own businesses rather than looking for jobs. They became more focused on entrepreneurship and self-driven ‘out of the box’ career prospects. They now consider themselves a part of the global talent pool, and the rest of the world has recognized their creativity, innovative ideas and skills. The internet, media and ‘reality shows’ are giving them the opportunity to showcase all this before a large audience.

Venture capitalist and Silicon Valley tycoon Kanwal Rekhi says that “Recession is the best time to be an investor and an entrepreneur”. In The Journal of Entrepreneurship, a research study by Nancy M Levenburg and Thomas V Schwarz under the title “Entrepreneurial Orientation among the Youth of India- The Impact of Culture, Education and Environment” states that “Despite a combination of social structures and cultural values within India that historically constrained entrepreneurship, a number of efforts in recent years seem to have significantly shifted the national mindset regarding entrepreneurship, particularly among India's youth who were found to demonstrate a significantly higher level of interest in starting new ventures than their US counterparts.” Accidental young entrepreneurs have discovered the value of using technology-aided collective intelligence to become successful with minimal investment and maximum exposure. Grassroot innovations and macro-finance-related businesses are growing faster as the young entrepreneurs increasingly understand the hidden treasures in rural India.

Moreover, the post-recession U-turn staged by many successful young NRIs has added to the knowledge resource and growth in many industries. Cities like Pune and Bangalore are now dotted with startups launched by NRIs who now want to invest in India due to its cheaper knowledge base, skills availability and steady economic growth.

more references to read: http://www.englishforums.com/English/GlobalRecessionIndiasYouth/lwwnm/post.htm

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