India Poised to Become Third Largest Consumer Economy By 2030 :WEF

In the coming decades, consumption growth and the Fourth Industrial Revolution will create tremendous opportunities in the emerging Indian market. During 2018, extensive proprietary research was conducted on India, the world’s largest democracy, and among the worlds fastest growing economies. The World Economic Forum’s new report in collaboration with Bain &Company, Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market — INDIA identifies key forces that will shape consumption in India and is a call to action for multistakeholder collaboration to build an inclusive future for the country.

“As India continues its path as one of the world’s most dynamic consumption environments, private and public-sector leaders will have to take shared accountability to ensure such consumption is inclusive and responsible. I am confident that strategic foresight from this report will contribute to inspiring action and realizing a prosperous future for India with sustainable benefits for both business and society,” said Zara Ingilizian, Head of Consumer Industries and Member of Executive Committee, World Economic Forum.

With an annual GDP growth rate of 7.5%, India is currently the world’s sixth-largest economy. By 2030, domestic private consumption, which accounts for 60% of the country’s GDP, is expected to develop into a $6 trillion growth opportunity. If realized, this would make India’s consumer market the third largest in the world, behind the US and China.

The future of consumption in India in 2030 is anchored in rising incomes and a broad-based pattern of growth and benefit sharing. It is anticipated that the growth of the middle class will lift nearly 25 million households out of poverty. In addition, India will have 700 million millennials and Gen Z consumers, who have grown up in a more open and confident country.

By 2030, there will be opportunities to bypass Western growth trajectories, such as those presented bymore than 1 billion internet users, many of whom will only use mobile platforms, driving the need forbusiness model innovation. Finally, future consumption growth will come from the “many Indias” — the diverse, rich and densely populated cities and the thousands of geographically dispersed, developed rural towns.  This positive vision for the future of India will only materialize if business and policy-makers pursue aninclusive approach to the country’s economic and, hence, consumption growth.