INDIA'S CONSUMPTION MISMATCH

Macro-economic data points towards a slowdown in consumption, but the optimism of the great Indian middle class is far from over. Only this time, there's a slight alteration in preferences-it's the regional upstarts which could have an edge over well-known national brands.

- AJITA SHASHIDHAR

It’s six-o’-clock on a December evening and the residents of the quaint town of Jaunpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh are all set to call it a day. A chillier evening makes people stay indoors, with the only exception of The Jalan’s Megastore on T.B. Hospital Road. As the evening sets in, street food stalls on the premises of the 60,000-sq.ft. store (which at first glance reminds one of Kishore Biyani’s Big Bazaar in its earliest avatar) come alive. Interestingly, the street fare is not about delicacies such as kachori or imarti the town is known for, but, surprisingly, Mumbai street food, from vada pav and misal to dabeli and ragda pattice! The Mumbai feeling at the entrance gives the first brush of being among the ‘aspirational small-town Indian consumer’. The vibe grows stronger as one sees shoppers arriving in nothing lower than an entry-level SUV or a powerful engine bike.

At Sonepur Mela (Asia’s largest cattle fair) on the outskirts of Patna, the trends are similar. At the Everest Masala stall, consumers are ditching the usual garam masala or chat masala for the smoky hot pizza seasoning. Similarly, the adjoining Ghadi Detergent stall has more takers for its washing machine variant than the normal detergent.