The Nielsen Upper Middle and Rich (UMAR) Survey profiled 18.250 affluent individuals across 35 Indian metro's, evaluating lifestyle and media consumption.

Market size

Nielsen conclude there are 2.5 million affluent households in India that can be segmented in to three tiers, dependent on lifestyle expenditure and ownership of durables - Upper Middle Class, Upper Upper Middle Class and Rich.

Key findings

• 60% of affluent households are nuclear families, 25% have family elders at home.
• Nearly 50% of households have more than one earning member.
• Although nearly 50% of affluent consumers are schooled in English, regional languages are spoken at home.
• 90% own a house, 75% have a fully automated washing machine, and 40% have a home theatre and fitted kitchen.
• English is the preferred language for newspapers (75% read English papers). 90% watch television but regional language television is more popular than its English equivalent.
• 60% watch movies at the cinema, more than 50% use the internet at home.
• Magazine reading is not particulary popular, less than 40% read them.
• Affluent individuals go to the gym and visit spas or beauty parlors, 30% visit a parlor or spa once a month.
• 80% of individuals go out for meals.
• 90% visit modern retail outlets. Footwear, jewelry, handbags, sunglasses, cosmetics, fragrances, pens and watches are the most popular purchases.
• Generally speaking the economic slowdown has not changed the spending habits of this group. However, spending on luxury accessories and travel and vacations has been cut.

Rich city list

The top 10 affluent cities according to the Nelsen UMAR Survey are 1) Delhi, 2) Bengaluru, 3) Greater Mumbai, 4) Chennai, 5) Hyderabad, 6) Kolkata, 7) Kochi, 8) Pune, 9) Jaipur and 10) Ahmedabad.

New methodology to define Indian affluence

Nielsen based "affluence" on tangible signs, considering lifestyle and ownership of consumer durables, rather than traditional parameters that define Socio Economic Class. In this case, employment of domestic help, holidays abroad, frequency of dining out, ownership of a variety of durables - PC, car, television, air conditioning etc - and internet access set the benchmark.

Partha Rakshit, Managing Director, South Asia, comments "There is no study today in India which provides an accurate estimate of this target group; large scale surveys grossly underestimate this segment, sampling procedures are directed towards a mass audience and not specifically to this segment".