Consumer Durables

Consumer goods like washing machines, motorcars, TV sets, audio-video systems etc, which yield services or utility over time rather than being completely used up at the moment of consumption can be termed as the consumer durables. Most consumer goods are durables to some degree, and the term is often used in a more restricted sense to denote relatively expensive, technologically sophisticated goods ‘consumer durables’ such as the examples given above which implies high involvement at the time of purchase. In the future, earnings will be driven by rising demand for consumer durables in general. As per the National Sample Survey Organization report of "Use of durable goods by Indian households", the per capita total expenditure on durable goods increased from Rs112.89 in 1987-88 to Rs148.02 in 1993-94. Similarly, NCAER estimates point to the fact that the number of households with monthly incomes above Rs 10,000 in metros and Rs 5,000 in non-metros is expected to rise from 22.7 million in 1995-96 to a huge 57.2 million in 2005-06. This will mean that firstly, there will be a perceptible shift towards branded products and secondly, the level of aspiration buying will increase.