Innholdsfortegnelse for 01 February 2026 i Business Today

We did not commission a Gen Z survey to chase a buzzword. We did it because India’s youngest adults are too large, and too consequential a cohort, to be understood through cliches. This special edition, to mark the 34th Anniversary of Business Today, is centred around consumption patterns of an estimated 420 million Indians in the 15–29 age group, accounting for nearly 29% of our population. If India is home to almost one in five of the world’s young people, their choices matter. Yet the public narrative about Gen Z is perhaps misinformed by the lack of empirical studies. Gen Z is painted as carefree, restless, and always online. They are assumed to be price-led and easily swayed by influencers and discounts. We wanted to test these assumptions. So, we…

THE LAST TWO YEARS—2024 and, more notably, 2025—saw a wave of protests by a new generation of students and young professionals looking for political change, better economic conditions and more climate awareness across countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and the Maldives. But beyond these uprisings, Gen Z, the term used to describe those born in late 1990s to the early part of the 2010s and currently aged around 13-29 years, are not only questioning but also bringing forth changes in societal norms and economic behaviour. It’s not just a generation gap! Gen Z are digital natives. They are tech savvy, have grown up with Internet in their homes, iPads as their support system, social media as a constant companion and take digital payments, online and quick commerce for granted. They…

NEARLY 45% OF GEN Z PREFERS TO DINE OUT OR ORDER FOOD ONLINE AT LEAST ONCE IN A WEEK CITY TYPE: DIVERGENCE IN METROS AND TIER II HOW HOUSEHOLD INCOME SHAPES PREFERENCES GENDER TYPE: THE MALE AND FEMALE CHOICES 49% Graduate Gen Zs dine out or order food online 1-2 times a week compared with 40% post graduates 48% Of private sector employee dine out or order food online 1-2 times a week compared with 41% government employees and 42% self-employed LEVEL OF PERSONAL INCOME OF RESPONDENT…

GOLD, FIXED DEPOSITS, MF LEAD GEN Z INVESTMENT CHOICES CITY TYPE: DIVERGENCE IN METROS AND TIER II HOUSEHOLD INCOME CLASS GENDER TYPE: THE MALE AND FEMALE CHOICES 51% Post graduates prefer gold and fixed deposits, making them the most trusted saving instruments among India’s most educated investors 47% Gold is the top preferred investment among both government salaried employees and entrepreneurs. LEVEL OF PERSONAL INCOME OF RESPONDENT…

FOR THE FIRST time in decades, India’s corporate leadership is confronting a generation that cannot be won with speed, scale or storytelling alone. Generation Z, or Gen Z—those aged between 13 and 29—is not impatient; it moves with intent. It is not anti-brand; it is against tall promises. And it is not rejecting consumption; it is redesigning the conditions under which consumption earns trust. Data collected during the first fortnight of December 2025, from an analysis of more than 4,300 Gen-Zers across metros and Tier II cities, points to a clear conclusion. They are not asking firms to market better; they are asking them to build better. That is why Gen Z is no longer a marketing problem, it is a CEO question. Most leadership teams still approach Gen Z…

INDIA’S BEAUTY AND cosmetics industry is undergoing a quiet yet powerful transformation. What once revolved around celebrity endorsements and onesize-fits-all beauty ideals is now being redefined by creators and the community. Gone are the days when you would see only movie stars on billboards endorsing beauty brands. The new face of beauty is a YouTuber explaining ingredients, a ‘reel’ creator testing products in real time, or a micro-influencer from a Tier II city decoding skincare routines in a regional language. ASPIRATION TO INFORMATION Young Indian consumers are no longer buying beauty to look like someone else. Ingredient-led skincare, retinols, niacinamides, ceramides, peptides and sunscreens have replaced vague promises of ‘fairness’ or ‘instant glow’. Doctors, dermatologists and skin care experts are regularly using social media platforms to raise awareness, which…

GEN Z HOMEBUYERS are hard to find, not because they can’t afford a house, but because homes that match their lifestyle are increasingly out of their reach, especially in top metros, the BT-PRICE Gen Z Consumption Behaviour Survey shows. Harshit Arora, the 24-year-old founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a bootstrapped marketing startup, earns enough to buy a home in Noida, but has no such plans. “Even if I am earning ₹5 lakh every month, it still doesn’t make sense for me to buy property because the lifestyle that I am chasing, the people that I want to network with are sitting in ultra-luxury homes, and I can’t afford to shell out ₹5-6 crore on a property loan. It makes more sense to rent than buy,” he says. Even…

Creator-influenced spending in India projected to exceed $1 trillion annually by 2030* Annual Income Potential: Mega creators (1 Million+) can go well into double-digit crores; macro creators (500K-1 Million) ₹20 lakh to ₹1.5 crore Income Potential Per Post: Mid-tier creators (100K-500K): ₹75,000 to ₹3 lakh; micro creators (10K-100K): ₹15,000 to ₹1 lakh; nano creators (1K-10K): ₹2,000 to ₹15,000 SOURCE INCOME ESTIMATES BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS; *2025 BCG REPORT - ‘FROM CONTENT TO COMMERCE: MAPPING INDIA’S CREATOR ECONOMY’…

THE STORY OF India and Davos has seven parts to it: the Opening, the Opportunity, the Objectives and Strategy, the Institutional Partnership, the Challenges, the India Team and finally, the New Opportunity. The Opening: The connect to CII (AIEI) in 1984 came from Rahul Bajaj, an early participant at Davos. The introduction to the World Economic Forum (WEF) that he made, and then monitored the progress, was the beginning of all that followed. From 1985 to 2025 there was a 40-year collaboration between WEF and CII, unique in the world. The Opportunity: Slight signs of opening of the Indian economy were visible in the mid-’80s, but it seemed like an opportunity for CII to expand its reach to the world through WEF, having already built its international work through trade…

RISE AND RISE EXPORTS HAVE RISEN OVER THE PAST DECADE, BUT IMPORTS HAVE SURGED FASTER, KEEPING INDIA’S TRADE BALANCE IN THE RED IN $ BILLION; *TILL NOVEMBER 2025 SOURCE CMIE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK MAJOR IMPORTS IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS, THE IMPORT BILL FOR GOLD AND SILVER HAS SURGED 104%, FOLLOWED BY ELECTRONIC GOODS (80%) AND AGRI PRODUCTS (76%) WIDENING SUPPLY CRUDE OIL IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA, IRAQ AND SAUDI ARABIA HAVE DECLINED, WHILE IMPORTS FROM THE US HAVE JUMPED IN FY26 SO FAR (TILL NOVEMBER) SILVER LINING THE RECENT FALL IN PRICES OF THE INDIAN BASKET OF CRUDE OIL MAY BRING DOWN THE TRADE DEFICIT THE DRAGON’S SHARE COUNTRY-WISE IMPORTS OF ELECTRONIC GOODS (%) FY26 DATA TILL NOVEMBER 2025 IMPORTS OF ENGINEERING GOODS (%) FY26 DATA TILL NOVEMBER 2025 SOURCE CMIE…

The gen z consumption Behaviour Survey was co-designed by Business Today and People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) to generate statistically robust and policy relevant insights into the economic thinking, lifestyle preferences, and consumption patterns of young adults aged 18–29 years in urban India. The study carried out by PRICE covers 12 major urban centres, comprising four metropolitan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai) and eight Tier II cities (Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune, Indore, Kochi, and Surat). These cities represent India’s most influential urban consumption markets, where Gen-Z participation in education, employment, entrepreneurship, and digital consumption is highly concentrated. The final achieved sample consists of 4,311 individual respondents, exceeding the originally proposed sample size and thereby strengthening the statistical reliability of the findings. The expanded sample reduces the…

MORE THAN ONE-THIRD GEN Z ALWAYS CHECKS NUTRITION OR INGREDIENT LABELS BEFORE BUYING CITY TYPE: DIVERGENCE IN METROS AND TIER II HOUSEHOLD INCOME CLASS GENDER TYPE: THE MALE AND FEMALE CHOICES 25% Of Gen Z with below primary education checks nutrition or ingredient labels before buying 48% Of government employees check nutrition or ingredient labels before buying packaged food or beverages LEVEL OF PERSONAL INCOME OF RESPONDENT…

GEN Z IS LARGELY CONFIDENT ABOUT MONEY MANAGEMENT CITY TYPE: DIVERGENCE IN METROS AND TIER II HOW HOUSEHOLD INCOME SHAPES PREFERENCES GENDER TYPE: THE MALE AND FEMALE CHOICES 58% Post-graduates are very confident in managing their personal finances—the highest across education levels 55% More than half of government salaried respondents say they are very confident about handling money LEVEL OF PERSONAL INCOME OF RESPONDENT…

IT OFTEN starts small. Checking the nutrition label on a pack of snacks before tossing it inside the bag. Skipping a second cup of coffee because sleep was short the preceding night. Mentioning stress or sugar levels in a casual conversation. Across India’s cities, young adults are beginning to factor health more directly into everyday decisions. What they eat, what they buy and how they spend are increasingly being influenced by concerns around fitness, energy and long-term wellbeing. These patterns come through in the BT-PRICE Gen Z Consumption Behaviour Survey conducted by the think tank PRICE for Business Today, which covered people aged 18–29 across 12 urban centres, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, along with Tier II cities such as Indore, Jaipur, Kochi and Surat. These findings suggest that…

THAT FEELING WHEN, or TFW, captures a popular Gen Z emotion, often expressed through a hashtag on social media. So, on a Sunday afternoon in Mumbai, when 24-year-old Vaheeshta Das, who works at VFS Global, was planning her next short break, she was essentially #chasingTFW. Like many in her generation, she schedules four or five trips a year around shifting work calendars. The planning process unfolds almost entirely online. Instagram, she says, offers aspiration and aesthetics. Reddit provides candour. AI fills in the gaps. “Instagram shows the vibe of a place,” Das explains. “Reddit is where people are more honest and unfiltered.” AI tools help her structure itineraries, optimise travel days and discover experiences she might otherwise miss. Used together, these platforms create what she calls a “realistic picture”…

WHILE EYEING A table split between lager, Picante, and neon‑green fizz, Vikas Narula, Co‑founder of Depot48, thinks out loud: “They’re not ditching margaritas, they’re adding matcha and kombucha to the mix.” The man behind the culture‑forward bar in the capital is speaking about Gen Z’s drinking habits. “They want range. It’s not a switch; it’s a spectrum.” Narula’s hypothesis raises a pertinent question: Is this generation really sober, or are they just ‘multi-tasting?’ “If anything, they’re more curious and experimental,” adds Narula. JUST SOBER‑CURIOUS By most measures, Gen Z really is rethinking its relationship with alcohol, even if they haven’t typically broken up with it. The trend is global. According to market research company Circana’s 2025 “Sober Curious Nation” update, nearly two in three (65%) Gen Zers said that they…

LIVING INSIDE A digital world changes everything. Unlike previous generations for whom technology was a facility, something one used for a reason while remaining outside, Gen Z is the first generation that lives inside it. No wonder physical reality is termed ‘off-line’, acknowledging that the default is ‘on-line’. The other fundamental shift is in the fact that this generation experiences itself as individuals in a way that is unprecedented. The very act of living inside their phones, through which they share a unique one-on-one relationship with the outside world, and one where every whim of theirs is read as a command, gives them a feeling of specialness that works at a visceral level. It also makes consumption a part of their search for identity. The need to constantly put oneself…

FOR GLOBAL LEADERS, equity is often discussed as an aspiration. In India, we have learnt, sometimes painfully, that equity is something far more exacting. It is a delivery problem. It is measured not by declarations made on global stages, but by whether a woman reaches care in time, whether a frontline worker has the tools and authority to act, whether a referral works at two in the morning, and whether dignity is embedded in systems rather than appended after failure. Equity succeeds or fails at the point of execution. This conviction is central to the Alliance for Global Good: Gender Equity and Equality, launched at Davos in 2024. The Alliance was created to close a persistent gap in global development efforts: the distance between intent and outcomes. Across health, education,…

WALLET SHARE: GEN Z’S TOP 5 SHOPPING PREFERENCES CITY TYPE: DIVERGENCE IN METROS AND TIER II HOUSEHOLD INCOME CLASS GENDER TYPE: THE MALE AND FEMALE CHOICES 50% Gen Z with education below primary level are spending more on fashion compared with graduates (38% and post graduates (36%) 12% Of self-employed spend on travel and experience, which is the least preferred category. Salaried-govt employees and private spend 11% and 7%, respectively. LEVEL OF PERSONAL INCOME OF RESPONDENT…

ONE BETTER OPTION, AND GEN Z MOVES ON CITY TYPE: DIVERGENCE IN METROS AND TIER II HOUSEHOLD INCOME CLASS GENDER TYPE: THE MALE AND FEMALE CHOICES 49% Nearly half of graduates and post-graduates are somewhat likely to switch brands if a better option appears 50% Half of private salaried respondents are open to switching brands when a better alternative appears LEVEL OF PERSONAL INCOME OF RESPONDENT…

THEY OWN IPHONES, wear branded clothes, are confident about managing personal finances, but don’t make uninformed decisions—the Gen Z generation believes in making informed choices and shunning debt as much as possible. India’s Gen Z in four metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata—are not four versions of the same consumer; they are four separate demand clocks running at different speeds. The BT–PRICE Gen Z Consumption Behaviour Survey found that across all regions, Gen Z dreams converge around home ownership, career growth, and mobility, with over half aspiring to buy both a car and a house. This generation relies on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for making investment decisions, has a higher risk appetite, and maintains a balanced portfolio with gold, mutual funds and fixed deposits making a major…

THEY ARE called Gen Z, but in India’s fastevolving consumer economy, a more accurate label may perhaps be the gadget generation. This is a cohort that splurges willingly on travel, concerts and experiences, yet an equally significant share of its discretionary spending is channelled to technology. And no, it isn’t just smartphones. From gaming consoles and audio wearables to healthtech devices, personalised accessories and smart home products, Gen Z’s relationship with gadgets is expansive and deeply personal. Technology, for them, is not just functional, it is immersive, expressive and constantly connected. What matters just as much is whether a product aligns with their values: sustainability, authenticity, brand purpose and, crucially, social validation. For a generation raised on Instagram reels, YouTube reviews and creatorled discovery, a gadget is as much a…

GONE ARE THE days of “appointment viewing” on a static screen in the living room. Gen Z has pivoted to a multi-screen, digital, on-the-go media consumption ecosystem. This generation seamlessly negotiates a massively fragmented, always-on, mobile-first landscape seeking customised information and experiences. “Media has three primary use cases—escapism, information, and self-aggrandisement,” says Ashish Pherwani, Leader, Media & Entertainment sector, EY. “This hasn’t changed for Gen Z in as far as the relevance of media is concerned. What has changed is the how, the when, and the where.” Gen Z, for instance, still wants to stay informed and is an active consumer of news and opinions, but it doesn’t go to legacy media platforms such as physical newspapers or TV channels. An industry research shows that Gen Z sources its news…

Coffee Badging: Showing up briefly at the office to mark attendance, then leaving to work remotely Quiet Thriving: Doing meaningful, satisfying work without chasing titles, visibility, or constant promotion Quiet Quitting: Doing only what the role requires to protect boundaries and work–life balance—without resigning Office Peacocking: Redesigning office spaces with perks, aesthetics, and experiences to lure employees onsite Bare-Minimum Mondays: Doing only essential tasks on Mondays to ease into the week and reduce burnout Career Catfishing: Accepting a job offer but ghosting the employer by not showing up on the first day Career Cushioning: Quietly building a safety net through upskilling, networking, and exploring options to prepare for uncertainty Boomerang Employees: Professionals who leave an organisation and return later, often in better roles Leapfrogging (Office Frogging): Intentional job-hopping to fast-track skills, compensation, and culture…

Gen Z grew up seeing careers disappear overnight, cities shut down, oceans rise, and “safe” companies lay off people on a call EVERY GENERATION has a savings story. For those of us who were born before the ’80s, it was built on fear. Growing up in post-Independence India or the liberalisation decade, frugality was not a virtue; it was survival. Saving was an insurance policy against scarcity with unstable jobs, limited credit, weak safety nets, and social expectations that one must “settle down” early. Fear of job loss. Fear of illness. Fear of the one rainy day that would surely arrive and stay. We saved first, lived later, and congratulated ourselves for our discipline. Gen Z watched us from an early age and reached a different conclusion. “You saved, and…

“GEN Z VALUES KIND LEADERS WHO PRIORITISE TEACHING, TRAINING” Q With career paths becoming non-linear, what core skills should Gen Z prioritise? Skills expire fast, some in just 18 months. Focus on what machines cannot replicate: asking better questions, connecting unexpected dots, and working with people who are very different from you. That can be your superpower. Master one technical skill deeply, then stack adjacent capabilities around it. Here is the mindset shift: your parents built one career in one ecosystem. Start in Career 1.0 (mastering one domain) but keep other hobbies and interests alive. That hobby you could monetise while employed becomes Career 2.0. Eventually, you will learn to operate across multiple networks simultaneously, which is Career 3.0. When organisations barely last 15 years and you will live to…