ABSTRACT
In recent years, the middle class has been a focus of much critical commentary across the world. Among commentators of the new middle class in India, it is common to connect the rise of the new middle class with the onset of the process of economic reforms in 1991. After the economic reforms, the Indian economy opened out substantially, increasingly trading with the rest of the world. Exports of services, in particular offshoring services, have been an important component of India's economic policy post-liberalization. The middle class in India has substantially expanded during 2004-2005 to 2011-2012. This period has seen unprecedented upward mobility among urban as well as rural Indians. At a very conservative estimate, around 110 million Indians have ceased to be poor during 2004-2005 to 2011-2012, while the ITES-BPO sector has created at the most 1.5 million jobs in the same period, both directly as well as indirectly.
