Delhi startup founder says salary stagnation is breaking India's middle class
India's middle class is quietly slipping under financial pressure as rising expenses, stagnating incomes, and lack of policy focus leave millions squeezed, warns Delhi-based startup founder Madhav Kasturia in a LinkedIn post that has sparked widespread conversation.'I met a friend last week, works at a top IT firm, Rs 30 lakh salary, lives in Whitefield,' Kasturia wrote. 'On paper? Doing well but in reality, he's quietly losing ground.'To illustrate the growing strain, Kasturia detailed his friend's monthly expenses: Rs 47,000 in rent, Rs 29,000 EMI for his parents' home, Rs 18,000 on daycare and transport, Rs 10,000 on groceries, and Rs 8,000 in minimum credit card dues. 'This isn't rare. It's becoming the norm.'advertisementHighlighting a troubling trend, Kasturia noted that salaries between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1 crore have grown just 0.4% annually over the past decade. Meanwhile, food prices have jumped 80% since 2013, and India's personal debt has surged to 43% of GDP.
'It's not like we're struggling in the traditional sense,' Kasturia wrote. 'But there's this constant hum of pressure and no real safety net.'He criticised India's economic policies for overlooking the salaried middle class, who contribute heavily to tax collections and consumer demand but receive little in return. 'You're not poor enough for help. You're not rich enough for wealth creation. And you're definitely not top-of-mind when policies are being designed.'Kasturia added: 'We are spending more to feel stable, and slipping deeper into debt to maintain the illusion.'advertisementCalling the middle class a 'silent contributor,' he said, 'What I'm seeing now both as a founder and a consumer, is a system that treats India's middle class as a silent contributor.'He urged targeted reforms, including predictable taxation, improved social safety nets, and policies promoting long-term affordability, warning that without change, India risks undermining its most productive demographic.'We'll end up scaling a nation where the most productive people are also the most anxious,' Kasturia concluded. 'That's not the India we want to build.'
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