Businesses look to India’s impatient
India’s newly elected Prime Minister emphasised the importance of economic development in his first speech as Prime Minister. Hearing these words would have been absolutely blissful to foreign investors who have poured more than $16 billion into Indian stocks and bonds in the past six months and now hold over 22 percent of Mumbai-listed equities – a stake estimated by Morgan Stanley at almost $280 billion.
Source: Reuters
At the heart of this, businesses know full well that a pro-investment landscape along with an active youth demographic is something which businesses can’t say no to.
In fact, India’s youth exercised a consider amount of power in the recent Indian elections with over 150 million 18-23 year olds having qualified to vote for the first time, which equates to roughly half of India’s population. Also, every third person in an Indian city today is between 15 and 32 with the median age being 27.
Source: Guardian
To put it in to context the youth’s population equates to the voting population of several European countries put together. They have proved that they are the game-changers and businesses from both the east and west now have one target in mind in order to grow and expand.
The e-commerce industry is one such industry looking to attract and retain the young, aspirational and the most impatient, with e-commerce giants such as Flipkart aggressively buying up smaller platforms such as the fashion-focused rival Myntra.
It has also announced a new $210 million round of funding led by DST Global, and included participation from existing investors Tiger Global, Naspers, and Iconiq Capital.
Flipkart currently claims 18 million registered users and 3.5 million visits to its site per day, but it has two US giants breathing down its neck. Amazon quietly moved into the India market last June. Also eBay also has plans for the Indian market, after it invested in domestic player Snapdeal with a view to a future acquisition.
Either way the battle to win the hearts, minds and the pockets of Indians is rapidly heating up. Only time will tell if it’s these existing companies that will win the race or if it will be a new innovative company that storms through the finish line.
To find out more about the Indian market, along with how you can market to the Indian youth here in the UK, feel free to send Zoha a message at info@hereandnow365.co.uk
