When we began this article, we almost went down the beaten track of defining consumerism in the context of washing machines, shampoos, financial services, supermarkets, and so on. In short, we almost wrote this from the classic suppliers' viewpoint.

Then we did some 'naïve' consumer-listening-letting consumers define what's on their minds-reviewed evidence of the change in their behaviour, and asked experts what was driving the change.

We first found that there is a main event waiting to happen; it will make the consumer demand we have seen so far seem like a side-show. Two, this is being driven by creeping cultural change caused by a large, slowly accelerating mass of people.

If you listen to consumer-speak, it is clear that there is a huge unfulfilled demand from all of Consumer India, (comprising, now and in the near future, more poor folks than rich), for goods and services that enhance the basic quality of living. What they want is liberation from the hassles of day-to-day living-not the fulfilling of higher-order needs, but meeting deficiencies in basic needs. Maslow's hierarchy still prevails! The demand is for affordable food, housing, clean air, healthcare, efficient public services, and above all, education for their children as a passport to a life with dignity.

Some of these markets are already happening: healthcare, communication, and education are increasing their share of total private consumption expenditure.

There is a huge demand for reliable information and service- providing utilities, helping harassed Indians, who are wasting time, money, and energy, transacting with public utilities and government departments. A quasi-medical service at chemist outlets, dispensing health information and simple medication, is attractive to poorer consumers, who avoid expensive visits to callous hospitals. More Sulabh sauchalayas are on consumers wish-lists. Apna makaan is what every young Indian will save for, at the expense of cosmetics and toiletries. The people of India now demand a better life. Gone are the days of "can't see outside the well that I am in" and "this is my aukaat, I must be satisfied with it''.

Indians in all walks of life have gained more exposure to the world these last 10 years than in the 40 before that, thanks to large doses of television and indirect exposure to "what it is like in foreign", through stories from people who have relatives there.

Why does exposure lead to aspiration? Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai of the University of Chicago says, "Imagination is not about individual escape. It is a collective social activity. Informational resources are needed for people to even imagine a possible life, weave a story and a script around themselves and place products in emerging sequences. Imagination may not always lead to action, but it is a prelude to action."

This cultural shift also owes its existence to the changing politics of India, according to cultural analysts. There has been a churning in caste politics and the rise of Mayawati and Mulayam are visible symbols of it. Laloo's success sends out the signal that to reach power you do not have to "become like them", and wear a gentleman's dress. It is okay to come riding on your cow.

ORG-MARG's researchers confess to constantly being surprised by small-town, lower income consumers. They are less reverent and believe that guts, not lofty birth, is the ingredient for success. There is a visible movement from demanding social justice to grabbing economic opportunity. Never before have economics and politics come together to give people a feeling of "I can have".

We see the decade ahead as the era for a different kind of consumerism. Are these really markets that have value-creation potential for businesses or are they social development expenditure for the government? We believe that where there is a groundswell of consumer demand, and consumer willingness to prioritise spending for such things, there is profit to be made, provided the business model is 'low cost'.