Standards and Consumer Behaviour of the Rising Middle Class in India

This chapter assesses the meaning of and possibilities for responsible consumption in India in light of its rapidly growing middle class, and in particular the role of public and private standards. Will the growth of India's middle class enable the development of a conscious, proactive civil society, or will it entail unsustainable consumerism? The issue is complicated due to the persistence of poverty and widespread informality. While incomes have been rising in the last decade, the ‘new’ middle class is a heterogeneous group, and some of its members are still quite poor in absolute terms. For those consumers price considerations will remain paramount, and public standards or regulations will continue to matter the most. However, with discretionary consumption assuming prominence among the wealthier consumers, private standards might become increasingly important - as they have in the global West. Whether and how the civil society agents - including the few successful domestic business models where local production and sales are geared to suit global private standards - will influence responsible consumption remains to be seen.