India's ₹40 lakh crore blind spot: marketers still cast women as caregivers, not buyers

Opinion piece flags a demand-mapping failure across autos, financial services and retail. Women demat accounts surged from 6.67M in 2021 to 27.71M in 2024; 25% of Spinny's used-car buyers are women. Yet only 45% of Indian commercials feature women, mostly in domestic roles, leaving brands like Titan Raga, Datsun and NatWest under-indexed on a $31.8T global spend pool.

— Source publishedSat, 6 Jun, 2026, 10:28 IST·First seen Sat, 6 Jun, 2026, 11:17 IST·Source ET BrandEquity

What happened

Indian Retail Industry · Opinion piece argues Indian marketers misread women consumers as caregivers rather than aspirational buyers, costing brands across

Key facts

  • 27.71 million women demat accounts 2024
  • 6.67 million in 2021
  • 25% of used car buyers on Spinny
  • $31.8 trillion global women spending
  • 45% of Indian commercials feature women

Why this matters

Screen for acquisition or partnership targets with proven women-customer data moats in broking, used autos and financial services—category leaders here will command scarcity premiums as incumbents scramble to retrofit.

Also reported by