From rising inflation and taxes to growing unemployment, several socio-economic factors are attributed to the precarity and economic insecurity of India’s so-called middle class. However, this data scientist believes that the middle class is trapped by just one thing — its own consumption patterns.
“The middle class is not a victim of the system,” wrote Monish Gosar, a Mumbai-based Data Scientist in a LinkedIn post, adding, “They’re willing participants.”
Rather than critiquing policy failures, Gosar chooses to turn his attention to the mindset of several middle-class individuals who are willing to go into debt to afford luxuries and engage in impulsive spending.
He narrates the situation of his friend, who purchased a brand-new car worth Rs 10 lakh with an EMI of Rs 45,000. The person, who earned Rs 15 lakh per annum, chose this car over a modest, used car of Rs 3 lakh because he “deserved it”.
“That’s exactly how the system wins,” Gosar says, adding that the friend prioritised the social status of owning a car with an air conditioner, leather seats and that particular brand’s logo. “We confused wants with needs,” he said.
To emphasise the seriousness of the problem, he cited some sobering statistics. “Credit card debt doubled to Rs 2.92 lakh crore in 4 years. Personal loans grew 75 per cent,” he said, adding that the Indian middle class fell into this trap willingly without coercion. “Banks didn’t trap us,” he wrote. “They offered the rope. We tied the knots,” he put bluntly.
Instead of “instant gratification”, Gosar argued that the Indian middle class should’ve chosen “delayed wealth.” He wrote, “That iPhone could've been a mutual fund SIP. That fancy dinner could've been an investment.”
While Gosar’s observations are behavioural, he did not discount the presence of systemic problems in furthering these traps. However, he proposed that the way out begins with personal accountability. “Every swipe, every EMI, every loan application was our choice. The moment we accept this responsibility, we can start making different choices,” he stated
