Pocket Money Rising: 75% of Indian Youth Spend INR 6000 per month On Cosmetics, Apparel & Mobile!

It’s unbelievable the amount of money today’s youth spend on things like cosmetics, apparels and mobiles. Go to any coffee shop and you will see teenagers spending over Rs. 100 for one coffee. I am just not able to digest this fact. And, this is not the case only with rich kids, the spending happens across the board.

An ASSOCHAM study conducted on the eve of “World Youth Day”, celebrated on August 12th, shows that about 75 percent of Indian youth (16 – 21 years old) spend more than Rs. 6000 on cosmetics, apparels and mobiles.

The findings were based on interactions with 2000 youngsters in 10 Indian cities. It revealed that their cosmetic consumption has gone up by about 65 percent in last 10 years.

10 years back, in 2003, the average expenditure done by urban Indian youth was less than Rs. 1500, which has risen multifold to Rs. 6000 in 2013.

According to the study, cosmetics and apparels account for majority of this spend. Majority of Indian youngsters spend over Rs. 4500 per month on cosmetics alone. This clearly points to the fact that looking good and appearances are increasingly becoming important to them. The rise in spending has been more pronounced in last 3 years since 2010 as compared to previous years.

Eating out is also one of the passions of today’s youth with around 15 percent of the pocket money is now being spent on food items as per the survey.

Interestingly, male counterparts spend more on cosmetics compared to females, mainly on items like men’s hair care products, deodorants, razors and blades.

Brands also play an important role for today’s Indian youth with 85 percent of them preferring expensive branded quality products over cheaper local ones.

The most surprising finding (which I am not too sure of) is that according to survey male consumers frequently change their handsets as many as two or three times in a month and generally have two mobile handsets with them.