Middle-class illusion — Flying once a year, crashing into stress everyday: PeepalCo CEO sparks debate over ‘biggest scam’

“The poor are being supported. The rich are scaling. But, the middle class is just expected to absorb the shock, in silence,” PeepalCo CEO Ashish Singhal has pertinently put the spotlight on what has been the elephant in the room for ages.

“Middle class salaries. The biggest scam no one talks about,” he sets the tone for his LinkedIn post and goes on to aptly express the pressures that are devouring this segment.

He says that even though the food prices have gone up by nearly 80 per cent and the purchasing power has been cut by half, the spending is up, funded by credit. He asserts, “It isn’t a collapse, it’s a well-dressed decline!”

Savings take a back seat

For a middle-class person, Singhal says, “You’re still flying once a year, buying a phone and paying EMIs. But, you’re skipping savings, delaying a visit to doctor and doing the mental math in every Zomato checkout.” Meanwhile, the ultra-rich have “grown seven times” in a decade and the poor are being supported through welfare schemes.

Alas, there are no bailouts for the middle class, which is silently bearing the brunt. What is left for it is just inflation, EMIs, and quiet pressure, he points out.

Singhal says it is high time everyone starts talking about the middle class and its problems, for it is a segment that’s powering the economy, but ironically getting squeezed out of it.

‘Frogs on slow boil’

The post has drawn several comments. A LinkedIn user says, “After deducting EMIs, children’s school fees, tax and other essential expenses, most individuals are left with little to no disposable income… Over time, this financial strain erodes morale and the motivation to work hard… The lack of appreciation in workplace culture, combined with the absence of systemic support, creates a cycle that undermines both personal well-being and professional drive.”

Another one writes, “If India has to become $10 T GDP then someone has to foot the bill.”

One LinkedIn user narrates his own experience over time, “I saw my father’s salary erode from Rs 100 pm (worth 10 grams of gold) when I was born to, Rs 5000 pm when he retired (worth 3 grams of gold). I have personally experienced the steady eroding standard of living… We had vegetables intake reduced over years from 3 times a day to once a day and my mother had to pledge her nose stud to pay my college fees.”

Yet another comment reads, “Rightly said. Everyone in the middle class feels it. But somehow we have become frogs on slow boil."

India