Jaipur in Top 10 Rich City List

Avinash Kalla, TNN 4 September 2009, 04:22am IST
JAIPUR: ‘Have money, will spend' seems to be the mantra that Jaipur swears by. According to first of its kind of survey on the lifestyle and media consumption patterns of the Upper Middle and Rich (UMAR) class done by Nielsen, Pink City features in the top 10 affluent cities in the country. Covering more than 18,250 affluent individuals across 35 metros, Nielsen studied the lifestyle and media consumption habits of the hard-to-reach affluent Indian consumers.

"With income-based surveys failing to predict the trends of high-end target consumers, the other possible way was to go the other way round and study their lifestyle patterns, hence gauging their affluence," says Vatsala Pant, director, A C Nielsen, India.

Standing tall at no. 9, Jaipur is ahead of cities like Ahmadabad, the NRI capital of India, Ludhiana, touted to be the city with highest number of Mercedes, and Nagpur, which held the distinction of being the Crorepati Capital of India. Affluence in three distinct segments; upper middle, upper-upper middle, and rich was based on lifestyle and consumer durables ownership of a household rather than monthly income and education. It was found in the survey that Jaipur was at par with cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, when it came to mall visits, but lagged behind in premium health club memberships. Surprisingly, it topped the charts in matters of looking good. "When it came to visiting beauty parlours or indulging in cosmetics, Jaipur was way ahead of others," says Vatsala.

So how conscious is the Pink City when it comes to being a part of the ‘me too' segment of the high society. "With advent of cellular technology and various media, people have become conscious of their public appearances and the groups they move around or are seen with," says Ajay Chopra, director, Crayons advertising. He further adds, "Today's generation is far more aware and conscious of brands as they travel a lot. With city producing entrepreneurs and businessmen who trot globe, and rise in nuclear families with higher disposable incomes, affluence is in."
Not just that, the number of denizens heading overseas on leisure holidays too, was impressive despite economic downturn. "While the business travel slowed down, those travelling for a good time with their families didn't stop to pack their bags. Also there has been an increase in people upgrading their destinations from Singapore to Europe to Australia and than to the USA," says Manoj Sogani, president, Travel Agents Association of India, Rajasthan Chapter. With the city on a splurge spree, it's going to zoom ahead in such charts in the time to come.

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