Page 3 - Middle Class

Consumer mkt presents long-term structural opportunity: N Chandrasekaran

TCPL chairman says India continues to be a strong growth market

Here's how AI could save the middle class from demographic decline

AI will augment tacit knowledge some workers already possess and enable them to perform roles that were once the domain of paid professionals. It may even help the world cope with the labour scarcity

Small (car) is beautiful

If you look at the sales numbers of various models, they tell an interesting story

Interim Budget: Housing scheme for 'deserving' middle class soon, says FM

FM Nirmala Sitharaman also said that India is close to achieving the target of 30 million houses under the rural housing scheme

Reframing the middle class

In defining and thinking about the middle class, we need to move away from rankings and income to quality

Home health care industry sees demand rising in India's smaller cities

Industry provides at-home care and assists patients needing rehabilitation after hospitalisation

Slow climb up: The time it takes the poor to become middle class in India

Religion, region, caste and education determine social mobility in the country

Young Indians' endless struggle

Being driven to abandon Indian middle-class values?

Middle-class Indians earning Rs 2.5-10 lakh to drive e-commerce growth

Middle-class now accounts for 31% of the Indian population and is expected to increase to 38% by 2031 and 60% by 2047

Indian middle class will nearly double to 61% by 2046-47: PRICE Report

The strength of the middle class is expected to rise from 432 million people in 2020-21 to 715 million (47 per cent) in 2030-31 to 1.02 billion of India's projected population of 1.66 billion in 2047

Middle-class India has a new obsession: Expensive pre-wedding videos

Middle-class India has a new obsession: pre-wedding videos. They're extravagantly designed and choreographed, with music, dance routines and, often, movie-style sets

New tax regime to benefit middle class; leave more money in their hands: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the new tax regime will benefit the middle class as it will leave more money in their hands. Talking to reporters after the customary post-Budget address to the central board of RBI, she said it is not necessary to induce individuals to invest through government schemes but give him an opportunity to make a personal decision regarding investments. Under the revamped concessional tax regime, which will be effective from the next fiscal, no tax would be levied on income up to Rs 3 lakh. Income between Rs 3-6 lakh would be taxed at 5 per cent; Rs 6-9 lakh at 10 per cent, Rs 9-12 lakh at 15 per cent, Rs 12-15 lakh at 20 per cent and income of Rs 15 lakh and above will be taxed at 30 per cent. However, no tax would be levied on annual income of up to Rs 7 lakh. Answering a question on the Adani Group crisis, the minister said, "Indian regulators are very, very experienced and they are experts in their domain. The regulators are seize

Higher investment limit in saving schemes to help sr citizens, middle class

The decision to raise the investment ceilings in small savings schemes is aimed at benefiting senior citizens and the middle class who park funds in safe government deposit schemes offering higher returns than banks, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan has said. The Budget 2023-24 raised the maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. Also, the maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Account Scheme will be enhanced from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9 lakh for a single account and from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for a joint account. In a post-budget interview with PTI, Somanathan said the ceilings under the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme have been unchanged for quite some time, and the decision to raise the ceiling is primarily a measure for the welfare of the middle class and senior citizens. "There was a feeling that people in advanced age need safe investment options, and the incomes have increased in the period between the last revision and now. So, this

New tax rates will raise purchasing power of middle class: Bandhan Bank CEO

The revision in income tax rates will increase the purchasing power of the middle class sections of the society, Bandhan Bank's Chief Executive Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said

When the middle class takes centre stage

While the tax slabs may be reasonable, many exemptions have become anachronisms - they don't reflect the reality when we take into consideration the cost of inflation

Tell middle class about schemes which benefitted them: PM asks ministers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked Union ministers to reach out to the middle class with details of schemes which have benefitted it, sources said. Chairing a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers here ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1, he said while government schemes have benefitted the poor and the marginalised, several initiatives have also been taken for the middle class that have made their life easier, the sources said. The prime minister wanted the Union ministers to carry facts while reaching out to the middle class with details of the initiatives which helped them in various ways. Hard copies of the presentations made during the meeting were given to the ministers to spread the message. This was the first meeting of the Union Council of Ministers to be held in 2023. As India marks 75 years of its Independence, the prime minister suggested that things and laws which were reminiscent of the British Raj be flagged and scrapped, the .

Finance Ministry contemplating sops for middle class in upcoming Budget

The finance ministry is considering proposals to benefit the middle class in its last full Budget of the Narendra Modi 2.0 government to be presented on February 1 in the Lok Sabha. The finance ministry is looking into proposals sent by various government departments on specific steps which may be announced in the Budget, benefitting a large section of the middle class, sources said. The government has not raised income tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh which was fixed in 2014 by the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first Budget. Also the standard deduction has remained at Rs 50,000 since 2019. Several experts are of the opinion that the exemption limit as well as standard deduction need to be increased to compensate salaried middle class for elevated level of inflation. The recent statement of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that she was aware of pressures of the middle class has raised hope that some incentives may come for them in the upcoming Budget. "I too bel

Budget 2023: I belong to middle class, understand their pressures, says FM

Ahead of the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday that she was aware of the pressures of the middle class but also recalled that the present government has not imposed any fresh taxes on them. Sitharaman will present Union Budget for 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha on February 1 amid expectations that the government will raise the income tax limit and provide relief to the middle class taxpayers, besides others. "I too belong to the middle class so I can understand the pressures of the middle class. I identify myself with the middle class so I know," she said while speaking at a function organised by the Panchjanya magazine, an RSS- associated weekly. In the same breath, the minister reminded the audience that the present Modi government has not imposed any fresh taxes on the middle class. Also, she added, income of up to Rs 5 lakh is exempt from the income tax. She said the government has taken various measures like developing the metro rail network in 27 cit

Centre's housing initiatives will benefit middle class, slum dwellers: Puri

The middle class, slum dwellers and the poor in Delhi will benefit from the BJP-ruled Centre's various initiatives related to housing such as increase in floor area ratio (FAR) and regularisation of unauthorised colonies, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday. Ahead of the December 4 election to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Puri addressed a press conference along with party MPs from the national capital. He said a total of 1.35 crore residents of Delhi will benefit from the government's various redevelopment initiatives -- 50 lakh people through regularisation of unauthorised colonies under the Pradhan Mantri Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY), 75 lakh through the land pooling exercise in rural areas and 10 lakh people through the 'Jahan Jhuggi Wahin Makan' scheme. The Delhi BJP, in its manifesto for the MCD polls, has promised to work with the Centre to provide economically weaker sections (EWS) flats to all slum dwellers in the

One out of every three Indians 'middle class'; to double by 2047: Report

The report released by PRICE added that the share of middle class in the total population rose from 14 per cent in 2004-05 to 31 per cent in 2021-22