| |DECEMBER 20219of today. A new Bharat (Tier-2 & below) with a renewed zeal is levelling-up. Data such as retail broking account addi-tions/market participation, startup reg-istrations and Crypto accounts are all indicative of this. A young and aspiring nation like ours is all out to buy a better lifestyle for themselves vs. what their forefathers had. In this new Bharat, you either graduate from the Middle Class to a level above or fall off the reconning. I recall a quote by Adam Davidson - "Economics is all about consumption. People either spend money now or they use financial instruments like bonds, stocks and savings accounts - so they can spend more later". With the mad liquidity rally we are in, clubbed with work from home for millions of migrant white collared workers, the domestic savings of most families across Bharat have been on the rise. While savings accounts & FDs are unable to beat in-flation, money has found its way to the capital markets/cryptos, where the re-turns have been extraordinary. That compounded money is now finding its way into consumption drivers. A look at real estate demand/prices across Tier-2, 3, 4 & 5 towns, car sales is on the rise; discretionary sales of electronics such as iPhones and TVs are all on the upswing. India is firmly going the China way, where smaller cities and provinces are sitting on years of pent-up demand for consumption, which is finally be-ing satiated by brands reaching-out to consumers either directly or via ecom-merce (Top three e-tailers in India to-day deliver to over 90 percent of all In-dian pin codes!). Late last year, I happened to speak to a friend of mine who in her group of friends within the quaint city of Kanpur placed an order for 150 Louis Vuitton bags exactly 30 days post the nation-wide lockdown being lifted. Being an early investor at ECom Express (2nd largest e-Commerce logistics firm in In-dia), we see a monthly dashboard that showcases the demand for discretion-ary spends has firmly moved to Bharat, and its upon brands now to fight for the next 400-550 million untapped custom-ers. Brands today are being discovered via social channels like Chingaari, Ins-tagram Reels, Snapchat and others. The next leg of customers from Bharat pos-sess very high aspirations, and trend setting/positioning will hold the key for brands to succeed in the years up ahead. Gone are the days when a sim-ple Amitabh Bachchan ad would do the trick; India has evolved, and it is time that brands that wish to create a mark follow suit. A whole new brand guide needs to be invented to crack open the vaults of consumption that are waiting to be opened. Like Jeff Bezos quoted, "I predict that the 21st century is going to be the Indian century. The dynamism, the energy... everywhere I go here, I meet people who are working in self-improvement and growth. This country has something special, democracy". My personal note to brands of this century - `Go Big or Go Home!'With the mad liquidity rally we are in, clubbed with work from home for millions of migrant white collared workers, the domestic savings of most families across Bharat have been on the rise
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