Spending Habits of the Indian Youth on Entertainment

Youth is the backbone of our country. They form the robust part of our Indian economy. The term youth is considered to be the period of maximum i.e, maximum energy and maximum potency. They are also considered as nation builders. It is very important to understand them in terms of their needs, desires, aspirations, activities etc. In this time, Youth has become more confident, independent and is willing to be as powerful and capable. The scientific advancements in 20th century followed by 21st century have drastically changed their life style. Tendency of the Youth is to do the activity which is pleasure giving and not to do the activity which is pain giving. Scientific gadgets and fast growth of economy have enchanted and fascinated the Youth so much that today they can’t assume their lives without them. The availability of the contemporary and latest state of the art facilities and amenities have been enjoyed by the Youth of other advanced countries. Indian Youth too wants to have a same sensitivity and enjoy the available neo recreational and modern facilities here in India. In a way, they are adopting and imitating western style and their culture as per their convenience.

Youth in the contemporary marketing environment constitute quite a sizable and a pivotal market segment which is growing at a pace that marketers cannot ignore and for this reason the consumer behavior researchers are showing enormous interest to unveil the buying behavior and the factors continuously influencing them to spend on entertainment and their fitness. They have emerged as big-time spenders, who not only have a good amount of pocket money but also know how to have more by doing part time work and picking up extra assignments No doubt they are complex and many faceted with channels of spending multidimensional and varied such as entertainment, body shape and fitness, branded apparel, communication, night life , eating out and many more to upkeep them as per the ongoing and current trends. The lust of the fashionable and glamorous life which is more impressive has always enticed and dragged them.

They are receptive to new products and innovations, and the astute marketer has to develop their products and services accordingly. This segment of the market has produced themselves as a new and commercially attractive category of consumer. Compared with the previous generation they are enjoying much better health, they are looking good and glamorous in their designer clothes and eat and drink different stuff Observed K Ramakrishnan, president – marketing, Café Coffee Day, “The youngsters who frequently visit our outlets largely spend money on eating out, entertainment and fuel.

An average customer in the 15 to 21 age bracket would spend nothing less than 45 minutes to an hour at the café over several cups of coffee and food to go with it.” Sinha, a consultant with the National Council for Applied Economic Research quoted that –“Young Indians are going to create a huge market for goods and services. They want clothes, music, cell phones, computer games, DVD players, cars and entertainment” Their spending trends are influenced by number of variables which can be psychological, personal, social and cultural. Almost all of the Young consumers regularly interact with other people who directly and indirectly influence their purchases. They are influenced by peers and family in their buying related decisions. For marketers, it is important to understand the impact of these factors Over many decades now, marketers have realized the usage of rapidly improving communications tools and advanced technologies. Marketers use unique tools to lure Youth so that they act in a desired way.

Marketers make them aware, induce commitment, and create a healthy attitude so that product is sold. Knowledge of their buying trends is helpful to the marketer in developing appropriate strategies as it provide them an insight into where they are spending and what really influences their desire into a demand. They develop well designed and up to date information system about them which may come from reliable and distinguished sources. This information is been used in a right manner so that Youth spends on the items. India is one of the developing countries and there is too much flow of luxury items in the market ranging from music system to automobiles, sophisticated cell phone, facilities of mall etc. Indian youth want to enjoy all these luxury items. Night clubs, discotheque culture has further attracted the youth. They spend lion share of their pocket money to enjoy the modern facilities. Youth of weaker section of society is also attracted towards luxury life style. A criminal attitude has cropped up among the youth of this section of society because they adapt unfair means to meet the need of expensive life.Some time because of financial constraints, good number of youth is not able to enjoy all luxuries of life available and they undergo some kind of frustration.

They indulge in to consumption of intoxicants and pose great threat to their health and society as well. To overcome these problems they seek the support of some kind of recreation. Night clubs disco theaters and cinema halls are their common recreational centers.New techniques of sport marketing for sport like cricket golf, tennis etc. are making booming business. Youth do not hesitate in spending on these sports as participants as well as spectators as a means of their recreation. As per personal experience and observation of the writer only handful of youth active mode of recreation like rock climbing, para gliding, rafting or any other kind of active sport. Efforts are being made at the government level to provide active mode of recreation to the youth. There are some agencies like youth hostels, sports federations youth clubs, directorate of adventure sports Nehru yuvak kendras, Y M C A etc. which provide active sport to the youth against minimum financial burden on themNow there is growing trend among youth to improve esthetic appeal of their body .They are attracted towards the style of film stars when they put off their shirts to show their body contours.

This trend has given birth to fitness centers and gyms. Youths are spending liberally to avail the facilities of these fitness centers. Their propose is not to improve fitness but to develop musculature body .to achieve this objective, they are getting in to the habit of taking steroids without knowing their adverse effects. There is a great need to educate youth to understand the importance of health and fitness to lead a quality life and the longevity is the byproduct of it. Their attitude has to be diverted to spend on healthy mode of recreation and fitness so their energy is utilized towards the building of nation.

However because of present fast and competitive life, they are always under stress and strain and worried about their future. So at any point of time, importance of fitness, both physical and mental can’t be ignored. Keeping in view these factors and on the basis of some earlier studies undertaken, present study was conceived. To the best knowledge of the scholar the study in hand has not been taken up by any researcher earlier. Therefore it may be considered as a pioneer in this field which is bound to have few shortcomings. The investigator has done her best efforts to work on the problems seriously and honestly.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The purpose of study was to investigate spending and entertainment habits of the youth. Therefore the study has been entitled as “SPENDING HABITS OF THE YOUTH ON ENTERTAINMENT AND HEALTH PERSUITS IN JAIPUR”

LIMITATIONS
In this study there was no standardized test available to achieve the objective of the study. Therefore scholar has herself attempted to develop a questionnaire to meet the requirements of the study. DELIMITATIONS

1Understanding the profile of the youth is a very big area, therefore the study has been confined to the spending habits on entertainment and health pursuits of Indian Youth 2The study was restricted to the youth of Jaipur city only

METHODOLOGY
To achieve the objective of the project, a survey type study has been designed to collect the relevant data SUBJECT
200 youth were chosen from different parts of city Jaipur on random basis to act as subjects. The age of these subjects ranged between 19-22 years, they were either college students or University goers and also pursuing professional trainings courses in the various institutions of Jaipur.

TOOLS USED
A questionnaire was developed by the scholar in consultation with the expert in the area and with its repeated application. Initially questionnaire consisted of 35 questions, after trial runs they were reduced to 22. 13 questions were dropped either by recommendations of experts or suggestions by the subjects during trial run.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study will help the parents, teachers and youth themselves about the proper utilization of their time, pocket money and energy etc. The study will also help to know the spending tendency of the youth and promise a guideline to the responsible citizen of India to take care of their wards so that they prove to be useful citizens tomorrow. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive analysis by way of %age basis. ANALYSIS OF DATA AND RESULTS OF STUDY

DISCUSSION OF THE RESULT

The maximum bulk of the subjects i.e., 61.5% agree that entertainment is must for balancing stressful life and they spend 7.5 hrs per week on entertainment activities. On an average youth is spending 340Rs/- per week on entertainment by way of going to movies, shopping and fun that constituted 59% and rest go for computer gaming and other sources. As far as physical fitness is concerned, 99% youth agree or strongly agree its importance but they spend very less time for achieving health and fitness i.e., 3.5 hrs per week which is very less for the youth. The 97.5% parents of the subject also feel that there wards must achieve physical fitness which is most important in achieving success or goals of the life. The physique and the lifestyle of the Hollywood and Bollywood stars also attract the subjects the most. It is therefore concluded that Physical Fitness is the most important requirement as felt by the subjects for building their career followed by entertainment which helps them decrease their stress and tensions of their busy life RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that the youth should devote more time and money in the development of their health and fitness which invariably will help them in achieving efficiency in work and exhibiting a pleasing personality. Mind and Body cannot be compartmentalized. If body is healthy, mind will also be healthy as already advocated by Aristotle