Rush Hour: 1 billion Indians lack disposable income, American sarod player Ken Zuckerman dies & more

A new report by venture capital firm Blume Ventures estimates that one billion Indians, or nearly two-thirds of the country’s 1.4 billion population, lack the income to spend on discretionary goods, making them an unviable market for companies.

India’s “consuming class” comprises only 140 million people across 30 million households and only makes up 10% of the population of the country. It is effectively only as big as Mexico. Another 300 million people form the “aspirant” consumer class, with spending rising due to digital payments.

India’s consumer base is not expanding but becoming wealthier at the top, reinforcing a K-shaped post-pandemic recovery. Income inequality has widened sharply in India over the decades, with the top 10% now controlling 57.7% of national income, up from 34% in 1990. The richest 1% own 40.1% of total wealth, while the bottom 50% share just 6%, according to the World Inequality Report 2018. Read on.

American sarod player Ken Zuckerman died on Wednesday at 3.30 am in Basel, Switzerland, at the age of 72. Fellow sarod player Shiraz Ali Khan confirmed his death in a Facebook post.

Zuckerman, known for cultural crossover projects like the Grammy-nominated Diaspora Sefardi and Indian Ragas & Medieval Song, trained under sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan for 37 years. He initially played...

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