Movies, Moffusils and Homes
Trunk Economics | August 2024
HOW DO YOU MEASURE CHANGES in a country’s transformational journey? It may be a useful exercise to gauge how people’s lives and aspirations have changed, powered by spending ability and inter-generational upward mobility.
Trends and stories in the film industry, riding on the spectacularly successful superstars that most of us can’t stop scrolling on our social media feeds to spot them at ‘the monsoon wedding’, can serve as a useful marker.
In 2014, the best-selling film grossed about Rs 500 crore (Dhoom 3). In 2023, Jawan, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer blockbuster, clocked more than Rs 1,100 crore. A family’s movie-out is as much a function of recreation, as it is of spending ability.
Movies grossing more money broadly means that more people are going to the theatres or logging on to OTTs. People spend more on such getaways when they feel confident about the stability of their current and future incomes.
Tier 2 catching up
That’s true of expenses on creating assets too, such as houses. The key determinant of a family’s decision to buy a house is not as much as current income, but more about what it thinks about its future income.
The increased interest in Tier-2 cities is evident in the property market, too. The Bharat In India Report published by Housing.com shows that online searches by potential homebuyers with strong intent in the Rs 1-2 crore price bracket have seen a substantial surge of 61%, while searches in the above INR 2 crore price bracket have skyrocketed by an impressive 121% in Tier-2 cities. So, people in smaller cities are buying costlier houses.
Moffusils taking wing
Another interesting way to measure changes is how people travel. The flight status display board at an airport today makes for a fascinating sight. Tier-2 towns and cities now clearly outnumber the metro and state capital destinations as more Indians are taking to the skies.
The data reinforces this. The commercial fleet strength in India has gone up from 395 in 2014 to 714 in 2023, vaulting by nearly 81 per cent, as millions criss-cross across the country's firmament. It’s a socio-economic change that is, perhaps, telling us a different story of transformation.
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