Introducing Gen YRI

India today is surging with new restless energy to re-define, re-discover, and re-invent the Old India into a Young India.  It’s a well known fact that about 70% of India’s population is below the age of 35, half the population is below the age of 25.  To define this generation of Indians in the age group of 13-35 years, we have coined the term Gen YRI (Generation Young Restless Indians).

Is Gen YRI the same as the generation of their parents or grand-parents?  That is definitely not the case according to several surveys and studies [1][2][3][4].

What defines Gen YRI?

• Gen YRI is nationalistic, and they are optimistic about the future of India and their future in India.  They enjoy wearing international brands but take pride staying in India
• Gen YRI is confident and even cocky to some degree displaying their ‘individualistic’ nature.  This is a clear sign that this generation is moving away from collective thinking norms of their parent generation.  They also don’t display the qualities of a typical Indian society like being shy and obedient
• Urban Gen YRI wants to marry for love–but also wants parent’s approval.  Even though family is important for young Indians and respect their parents, they show surprisingly little interest in having a family and children of their own
• Most of the YRI’s are traditional and conservative. But few are questioning Indian traditions/customs that make no sense to them.  They have learnt to find a balance with Indian traditions along with the progressive global trends
• This generation likes money and status.  The primary ambition of both urban YRI’s and rural YRI’s is to ”become rich.” They hope to achieve this goal through enterprise and education

We think Gen YRI will usher in ingenious array of music, food, fashion, video games, and movies and define their lifestyle that will be fusion of Indian with rest of the world.  This will be Gen YRI’s cultural contribution to the world!

[1] Youth Survey, 2008-India Today-AC Nielsen-ORG-MARG Survey
[2] 2007 survey about the youth by Swedish Research Firm Kairos Future
[3] A 2007 survey on urban Indian Youth (18-30 years) by the India Today as reported by wide angle
[4] 1999 Business Week cover article titled Indian Youth