India's Glass Half Full Or Half Empty? No Clear Answer Yet

It's heartening that nobody was called an andh bhakt, neither asked to decamp to Pakistan

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Bertie tends to exit all WhatsApp groups that have more than ten people. As groups get larger, odds are that a few strongly opinionated and/or permanently offended WhatsApp warriors will monopolize all discussions with their extreme views about everything under the sun. The one notable exception to this rule is a motley group of working professionals from diverse backgrounds who share interesting articles that they have read along with a short summary. Occasionally, there is a discussion but it is always nuanced, respectful and open-minded.

Recently, an article was shared on the group that stated that 90% of Indians had no money for discretionary spends. The discussion that followed quoted the India 1,2,3 framework attributed to a now-bankrupt modern retail pioneer. Some others shared charts from a report by an international brokerage that showed that even after two decades of operation in the country, quick service restaurants that sell pizzas and burgers were present in only 7% of India's postal codes. The tone of the discussion was there was a 'Stock Market India' of roughly 150 million people who were investing in stocks of companies that primarily sold to the same 150 million.