56% of ‘Bharat’ use UPI and 49% use mobile wallets multiple times a week: Report

ShareChat, India’s leading social media platform, has just released a report, titled ‘Bharat – The Neo India’, in association with GroupM. It studies the social media behaviour, content preferences, and spending choices of ‘Bharat’ and India users. The report classifies users that prefer Indic language on social media as Bharat users, and India users as the ones that prefer using English, across the country.

Bharat users are spread across the country, with nearly 40 per cent present in metros and 53 per cent in non-metros. The findings in the report are based on a primary survey by YouGov, conducted among 3,432 social media users across 17 states and with inputs from Kantar on Indic language urban active Internet users.

The survey finds that Bharat users are as affluent and digitally savvy as India users. Bharat users are at par with India users, when it comes to participating in online financial activities. In terms of the choice of payment mode, Bharat users are adept at using UPI for online transactions and have a lead over India users, in terms of net-banking and debit cards transactions online.

Among Bharat users, 56 per cent use UPI and 49 per cent use mobile wallets multiple times a week. Breaking away from traditional means, Bharat users are investing in stocks, mutual funds, e-gold and even cryptocurrency.

Bharat users are more engaged on social media, as compared to India users. Twenty-nine per cent of Bharat users post content daily, at least once, as compared to 22 per cent of India users. Bharat chooses to stay updated via social media, as 39 per cent uses it as their primary source of news consumption. Like India, the majority of Bharat users prefer streaming free videos, over watching TV.

Daily, 50 per cent of Bharat users stream free video online and about 47 per cent watch TV. Social media also emerged as one of the primary influences for making buying decisions for Bharat users. Bharat is increasingly shopping online, with 46 per cent buying gadgets online in 2021, followed by other categories like travel bookings, food, clothing and accessories, beauty and skincare.

Unveiling the report, Ajit Varghese, chief commercial officer at ShareChat, said, “Bharat users are taking social media by storm. It is interesting to note that the language first users are at par with English language first users when it comes to digital presence, use of online transaction methods, and shopping habits.”

“Bharat users also outrank when it comes to consuming news, food and beverages, health and fitness, and travel-related categories online. Observing similar trends on our platforms, we, at ShareChat, are excited to be at the forefront of engaging with this audience that is spread across the country.”

Commenting on the report, Prasanth Kumar, CEO – GroupM South Asia, added, “From the media planning aspect, Bharat is unique in many ways. This is mostly because all the cities that make Bharat are Indic language-heavy, fragmented and display their own sets of consumer behaviour traits. This diversity in our country brings in its own challenges and opportunities.”

“Brands and media planners looking to reach target audiences across the country should focus on a customised approach for this segment. With this report, we have put together planning guidelines that will give marketers a direction and a starting framework on how to plan and reach the Bharat user effectively.”

Deepa Bhatia, general manager – India, YouGov, had this to say, “As Internet continues to penetrate beyond the metropolitan and Tier-I cities, we see millions of regional language users coming online. Interestingly, the results of this survey indicate that these users are not just content consumers on social media, but evidently more engaged than that, with a higher proportion of them indicating that they post/upload pictures and stories on social media. A vast majority of them have made online purchases for various categories, ranging from groceries to electronics.”

“And though adoption of mobile wallets is somewhat lagging, they seem otherwise comfortable with online financial transactions, and use UPI and mobile banking as much as the digital natives using English as the preferred language online. On the whole, they might be demographically different, but their behaviour, social media adoption and usage currently looks very much aligned with the digital natives who have been online for longer.”

Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, director – B2B & technology, insights division, Kantar, said, "The Bharat users represent an important market constituent – one which is affluent, adequately urban, socially conscientious, well-educated and engaged across all media platforms. They are Indic language preferers as much by choice as by compulsion. This is a valuable segment for most marketers and as Internet penetration increases further in the lower-tier cities, this segment will also become a sizeable segment to target."

"However, it is important for the marketers to curate their communication for this audience to appeal to their value systems and, thereby, connect with them in a manner that will resonate with them, while using a language that will bring in a personal touch.”

Bharat versus India: other key findings

• Bharat users are showing a propensity to pay for online content, with 27 per cent already using paid video streaming services daily

• 37 per cent of Bharat users are listening to music, 36 per cent are shopping, and 24 per cent are ordering food online

• In certain categories, Bharat users in specific regions drive higher engagement

South: Gaming (39 per cent), Food & Drinks (32 per cent) and Travel (22 per cent)

West: Travel (22 per cent)

North: Health and Fitness (29 per cent)

• In terms of voice search, Bharat users are leading, with 26 per cent, as compared to 15 per cent of Indian users

• 21 per cent of Bharat posts content 4-5 times a week, compared to 17 per cent of India

• As per Kantar, there are over 341 million overall urban active Internet users and 167 million urban active Indic Internet users. The study suggests that urban active Indic Internet users over-indexed on NCCS A (New Consumer Classification System) and higher education, compared to overall urban active Internet users

• 33 per cent of the urban active Indic Internet users are from NCCS A, as compared to 30 per cent among overall urban active Internet users

• 39 per cent of urban active Indic Internet users include graduates/postgraduates, as compared to 35 per cent among overall urban active Internet users

You can access the full report here.

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