Penetrating The Middle Class of The Saarc Region: A Gateway to Competitiveness of Emerging India

Abstract

At a time when emerging India pushes hard for a forward move to gain a competitive position in the landscape of the world this concept paper looks deeper into the potential of SAARC, in particular, the potentials of the ‘middle class’ of the region. Authors, in this paper, have drawn in arguments from a wide array of literatures in favor of the notion that emerging India can further accelerate her growth engine through optimum exploration of the latent potentials of the ‘middle class’ in the SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation). The rise in ‘middle class’ in the East Asia has been the result of greater economic advancement of the region at large, which has reciprocated growth further through greater consumption. SAARC region, where the size of middle class stands around 385.25 m with an average annual consumption of $ 310 b holds an immense ground of potential. There exists some common denominators that are shared by the ‘middle class’ in the region; like: aspiration to live better, propensity to consume world class sophisticated products and cultural homogeneity. This qualitative feature adds further to the existing ‘size’ opportunity. With India's lead in technology, innovation, media, R&D and human capital she is in upper hand to realize the potentials of the ‘middle class’ of the SAARC.