Bureaucrats are flying economy class instead of business, and some
top politicians even take the train instead of travelling by plane.
This is an austerity drive, Indian style. To combat rising costs and
the financial slowdown, the country's ruling party has ordered its
members to cut costs. The drive started at the top with Sonia Gandhi,
the president of the governing Congress party, using a commercial
airliner to fly to a party rally in Mumbai. Foreign Minister SM
Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor, who were living in five star
hotels, were asked to move into government guest houses. Spending cut
This drive to cut expenses has been launched to keep the ruling party
more in synch with the economic difficulties caused by the severe
drought in the country. India is suffering its worst drought since
1972 and that directly affects the agriculture sector, which is the
country's largest employer. Now this need to be seen as austere is
catching on among urban Indians. Take Chitrata Sarkar, 38 , a
lecturer from Delhi. This time of the year is normally when she
spends the most. The 10- day-long Durga Pooja is the biggest festival
of the year for her family. Usually that means the Sarkar family
buying innumerable gifts, not just for themselves, but for members
of the extended family, friends and neighbours as well. Admiring their
new possessions, Chitarata and her mother sit in their living room
surrounded by bags of new clothes, jewellery, bags, shoes and other
accessories. But this is less than half of what would normally be
bought, Chitrata says. "I normally buy a new saree for every day of
the festival," she says. "People look at you to see whether you are
wearing new clothes and new jewellery, there is so much peer
pressure, but this year has been different. "This year I tried to
curtail my purchases so I have got half the number." Subtle purchases
In an upmarket hotel in central Delhi, the government-run Metals and
Mineral Trading Corporation organises a sale of gold ornaments every
year. Different states of India bring their traditional designs of
necklaces, bracelets and any other form of gold that can be given as
gifts. Sales of gold jewellery are traditionally at their peak this
time a year. In recent years, people would crowd around the stalls,
hoping to get the best deals, but this time the sale has been less
popular. Traditionally, more than 95 % of gold bought in India is in
the form of jewellery. But at his year's sale, it seems many were
instead looking to buy gold in the form of coins and bars or
biscuits. Government worker Mukesh Tyagi, 55 , is one of them. He and
his wife have come to buy a $3 ,500 gold bar weighing 100 grams. "My
wife normally buys gold bangles or designer chains, but this year we
want something more subtle," he says as his wife picks up their
precious purchase, which is smaller than a bar of soap. "We don't
want to show our neighbours and friends that we are spending in times
of a financial slowdown around the world. "This is so tiny that we'll
just keep it in our safe as an investment. She'll just wear her old
jewellery for the festival this year." Hidden wealth But although many
families are buying less gold, there is plenty stashed away in many
homes. " The cost may actually be the same, but the look is
definitely more subtle " Bridal wear designer Ritu Kumar According
to one estimate, Indian family vaults have almost 15 ,000 tonnes of
gold locked away, a volume comparable to the stockpile held by the US
Federal Reserve. The fact that there are still plenty of people with
plenty of money out there is clear for anyone operating in India's
often lucrative wedding industry. Nobody seems willing to cut
spending related to marriages, according to chocolatier Geetanjali
Achhra who runs Cocoa World, a wedding chocolate specialist. "Indians
cannot hold back," she says. "During weddings they don't like to save
at all, they only spend, spend and spend." Echoing her sentiments is
Radha Talwar, who is organising her son's wedding. She says she plans
to spend extensively on cocktails and multiple parties, as well as on
flights and hotels for all her guests. "I want to give my guests the
best time of their lives," she says. "I won't hold back on anything.
I have saved and put aside money for this occasion so there is no
question of cutting back." Superficial restraint So wedding budgets
remain large, yet fashion has changed to reflect the nation's new
mood. Bridal wear designer Ritu Kumar says people have cut back on
bright colours and bling. "Most of my clients want simpler-looking
outfits over something which is bright and has a lot of shiny stones
in it," she says. "The cost may actually be the same, but the look is
definitely more subtle and not in-your-face expensive. "The community
in general is fairly conservative when it comes to weddings. Over the
last couple of years, the conspicuousness in society had pushed
bridal fashion to something flashy and over the top , but we are now
going back to classics." Back with the Sarkar family, the women from
the neighbourhood gather to make sweets. Rolling little balls of
coconut and cream in sugar, they are piling up sweets by the hundreds
for the whole community. Despite the rising commodity costs, the
sweets are one thing that have not been scaled down. This time many
seem to have switched from conspicuous consumption to conspicuous
cutbacks. Beyond the facade, it is increasingly clear that among the
wealthy, the restraint is skin deep.
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