Consumers in India and neighbouring China are expected to spend nearly $10 trillion on goods and services a year by 2020, which is three times the amount spent in 2010, global research and advisory firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said today.
The middle class would be the main driver of the consumer boom in the two countries, BCG said in excerpts released from its new book titled, ‘The $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India’.
“By the end of the decade, consumers in the two countries (China and India) are predicted to spend nearly $10 trillion annually-three times the amount they spent in 2010,” BCG said.
It further said Chinese and Indian consumers are expected to spend a combined total of $64 trillion on goods and services between 2010 and 2020, propelling a new wave of growth in the global economy.
The book finds that middle class in the two countries is expected to reach 1 billion by 2020, with Indian middle-class is projected to grow from 28 per cent in 2010 to 45 per cent in 2020.
“We are at a turning point in the history where relative wealth will shift from the West to China and India, but absolute wealth, including in the West, should increase,” said Michael J Silverstein, a co-author of the book and a senior partner at BCG.
“It is not a zero-sum game. Western businesses and individuals wishing to gain their share need to act now. They must choose to be contenders, and remake their dreams for a new world in which China and India play a much larger role — but where the West can still prosper. That’s the real lesson of The $10 Trillion Prize,” he added.
The book written by BCG consultants Michael J Silverstein, Abheek Singhi, Carol Liao, David Michael noted that business leaders and politicians alike need to take urgent action to build for the long term. They should not postpone their efforts because of the current troubles facing the two emerging economies.
The book suggested that in order to fully participate in the emerging $10 trillion consumer market, the Western countries should embrace China and India.
“Western companies must learn to “captivate” them (consumers in India and China) by understanding their distinctive buying habits in order to capitalise on this opportunity,” the book says.