Beauty products by Nykaa, an Indian beauty products retailer, are seen for sale in a store at a mall in New Delhi, India, July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File PhotoMUMBAI : The yawning divide between the super-rich and middle-class in India's booming economy is set to persist, if the"underperformance" of consumer stocks in the raging stock market is anything to go by.
"There is a drastic shift in household income from lower to higher middle class and from higher to upper class that is the driving engine for the growth in the premium segment," said Vineet Arora, managing director at Singapore-based NAV Capital, which manages 8 billion rupees in its Global Opportunities Fund.
"While the premium segment offers some growth potential, a broader sector revival relies on improved rural demand and government initiatives," Arora said. The stock has been among the worst performers in the benchmark Nifty 50 index and the worst performer in consumer index, down 8.4 per cent over the past 12 months.Manjunath, 35, works at a dry cleaning shop in Marathahalli, Bengaluru, and has to support a family of five on his monthly income of 30,000 Indian rupees .
"After COVID and work-from-home, a lot of expenses have come down for people like us. Now I spend on comfort," he said.