India’s middle class is burning at both ends—rising costs on one side, stagnant salaries on the other. They’re still flying once a year, buying new phones, and paying EMIs. But behind this illusion of stability is a slow bleed.
Savings are being skipped. Doctor visits are being delayed. Every Zomato order requires mental math. It looks like progress—but it’s quiet financial erosion.
Calling this out bluntly is Bengaluru-based CEO Ashish Singhal. “The biggest scam no one talks about? Middle-class salaries,” he posted on LinkedIn, pointing to one of the most under-discussed economic truths of the past decade.
His data-backed frustration is hard to ignore. Over the last 10 years, Indians earning between ₹5 lakh and ₹1 crore annually—typically classified as middle-income—have seen their earnings grow at just 0.4% CAGR. In contrast, food prices have jumped nearly 80%, and inflation has steadily chipped away at purchasing power.
“This isn’t a collapse,” Singhal writes. “It’s a well-dressed decline.” Households are still consuming, but that consumption is being funded more by credit than income. Credit card debt and EMIs are up, while real wage growth remains flat.
This is not a small segment either. According to recent studies, India’s middle class accounted for 31% of the population in 2021 and is projected to hit 38% by 2031 and 60% by 2047. Yet, despite this growth, long-time middle-class earners are seeing little movement in actual financial security.
While the poor are supported through welfare schemes and the rich multiply wealth through investments, the middle class is asked to absorb the shocks. There are no subsidies or bailouts here—just rising school fees, healthcare bills, and fuel prices. The result: chronic financial stress hidden behind aspirational lifestyles.
Singhal argues that the middle class is not just a vote bank or tax base—it is the engine of the Indian economy. But that engine is sputtering. “The poor are being supported. The rich are scaling. The middle class is just expected to absorb the shock—in silence,” he notes.