The Indian customer wants value for money. Product should be of good quality but cheap. Yes, today there are more people in India who are willing to spend on quality but the vast majority of Indians are still hagglers for economy. Despite rising number of millionaires and billionaires, majority of people just somehow manage to make ends meet. I for one, am working at a middle managerial level in a reputed firm but have to spend all my income for day to day living. Am unable to save after paying all my expenses. What you call disposable income, I still have none. It explains why maruti 800 is still the largest selling car. You can compare the numbers with honda city or accord. You can also find out how many bicycles are sold across India and how many two wheelers. It will be an eye-opener.
In India, most of the mobile operators like Reliance Infocom offered many features initially free and it is our experience that hardly any customer changed over to other mobile operators despite high charges. Moreover, hardware companies like H/P, Cannon etc. and telecom companies can promote such free computers to attract/retain corporate clients. In India telephone instrument costs Rs.500/- but telephones tariff runs into thousands of rupees per month. In fact, the telephone/mobile company should provide instruments free of cost to get the customers addicted to them and then fleece the customers through tariff hikes, value added service charges etc.
