More Things to Buy in India - The Growth of a Consumer Society
When I first went to India in 1977, there wasn’t a lot to buy anywhere in the country. The basics - food, clothing, shelter, transport - were all available, but the consumer goods industry was severely undeveloped, thanks to a government attitude of “Be Indian, Buy Indian”, enforced by high import tariffs and strict foreign exchange controls. [more
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Beautiful pictures and colors, and I’m really enjoying your perspective on how much the country has changed. Since I just went there for the first time, it’s hard to tell what’s progress / globalization / improvements and what’s changed.
Comment by Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy — January 21, 2008 @ 11:20 am
Amazing transformation! I just hope all that packaging is biodegradable.
Comment by Faisal — January 21, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Deirdre -
Great essay (as always) on consumer products in India. I am also traveling there now and would like to add one comment. When we lived there in the late 1970s as you did, we had to constantly plan for drinking water, needing to boil it. One of the greatest things for us now is that you can buy purified bottled water everywhere. Of course the disposal problem of all those plastic bottles is a major problem, the downside of many upsides of product availability.
Comment by Anne Lind — January 22, 2008 @ 5:04 am