Publisher's Synopsis
This is an up–close and personal look at the Indian consuming class. I enjoyed reading the flesh and blood portraits of different types of consumers, and the wide sweep of stories of what’s going on in the world they live in.
Rama Bijapurkar
Management Consultant and Author , Winning in the Indian Markets
Alam Srinivas has gone behind the hype and beyond the generalizations to uncover refreshing truths about the Indian Middle Class. He challenges conventional wisdom and proposes a new way of seeing this vital segment. The method he uses is eclectic—he fuses an insightful reading of statistics with personal observations, historical understanding with intimate portraits. He looks at popular culture and larger socio–cultural influences, all the while engaging the reader in a direct conversation. The result is a satisfying look at an elusive part of a complex culture; as he himself says, there are several middle classes and it is to Alam’s credit that he gives us an insight into all of these.
Santosh Desai
MD & CEO
Futurebrands, Future Group
Alam Srinivas has used economic data, academic research, personal experience, hard reportage, corporate case studies and the nuanced messages from popular culture to paint one of the most revealing portraits of the Indian middle class. This book—part history, part prognosis, and part advisory—should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in how India, its people and its markets have been transformed in the last two decades, and what the future could look like. This is a book that is sorely needed.
Sandipan Deb
Senior Journalist and Author , The IITians: The Story of a Remarkable Indian Institution and How its Alumni Are Reshaping the World
