Over 60% willing to spend more on sustainable brands

Indians are finally ready to pay more for planet-friendly consumer brands. A new survey by Bain & Company said 52% of consumers in urban India expect to increase spending on sustainable brands in the next three years.

The consultancy, which surveyed consumers on their outlook toward sustainable brands and their buying habits, said over 60% of consumers in India are willing to pay a premium for ‘sustainability products’. However, Ravi Swarup, partner, Bain & Company said Indians have only shown the intent so far. In the survey, 20% of consumers said they are environmentally and socially conscious while 49% said they are health conscious. Sustainability is equally important across age and income groups, the firm said in its APAC Sustainability Report released Thursday.

Bain & Company surveyed 1,550 consumers in India seeking comments from gen Z, millennials, gen X and boomers. As many as 80% of respondents represented the top 60 percentile of income levels, while 46% of respondents ranged between 40–80 percentile, while 90% were from urban areas. In the APAC region, it surveyed over 16,000 respondents. “While one may have expected that consumers identifying as either environmentally or socially conscious and health conscious would have predominance in certain subsections of the society, the fact is that it is equally prevalent across income, age and gender,” it said in its Indian findings.

Personal impact owing to environmental issues, and influence of family and friends are the key triggers that are prompting the Indian move.

Meanwhile, the report pointed to the world’s growing awareness for a range of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) challenges.

“Nowhere is it growing faster or more dramatically than in the Asia-Pacific region,” it said.

Sustainability is also an increasingly important issue for investors, with 78% of global investors saying they place more emphasis on ESG now than they did five years ago.