AFFLUENT INDIA IS FUELLING EQUITIES. THE STORY HAS GAPS

Everyone loves India’s premiumization narrative. But that’s not the complete script

- Vivek Kaul

It's winter in Mumbai. And it's that time of the year when stock brokerages, investment banks, and other financial firms organize their India conferences. Presentations are made to talk up Indian stocks. And between presentations, people attending like to stand around having their cups of coffee, and ask each other that favourite question kya lagta hai (what do you think?).

Every bull market needs a story. One of the main stories currently being sold is the premiumization of the Indian economy or that Indian consumers are buying more expensive products than in the past and how that will continue to benefit listed companies. Also, the number of such consumers is expected to go up. Let's look at a few such data points.

AFFLUENCE RISING

 Domestic passenger vehicle sales (or simply put cars) from April 2023 to January 2024 stood at 3.42 million. If they continue selling at the same pace, firms will end up selling more than 4.1 million passenger vehicles by the end of this financial year, the highest ever. A January 2024 news report in the Business Standard points out that the average selling price of a passenger vehicle in India has gone up over 50%, from 17.65 lakh in 2018-19 to 11.5 lakh in 2023-24. Premiumization, with more customers buying sports utility vehicles (SUVS), is one reason for the same.

Second, from April to November 2023, the total number of passengers taking domestic flights stood at 101 million. If things continue at this pace, the number of domestic passengers in 2023-24 should cross 150 million, higher than the 2019-20 peak of 141.6 million.

A third data point is the number of demat accounts-they have jumped from 39.4 million in December 2019 to 143.9 million in January. Further, the investments in mutual funds through the systematic investment plan (SIP) route in January stood at 18,838 crore, crossing 18,000 crore for the first time.