Archive · 28 Aug 2026
India’s Middle Class Faces Falling Jobs, Stagnant Wages and Debt
A new book looks at the problems facing India’s middle class.
It says many middle-class people are finding it harder to get good jobs.
Their wages are also not growing much.
At the same time, more people are taking on debt.
The authors say social media can make people want things they cannot easily afford.
They argue that the middle class pays a large share of taxes but has little political influence.
They also say the government is no longer meeting its needs as well as it did after independence.
The book describes these problems as a serious crisis for the middle class.
Investor Saurabh Mukherjea argues that India’s middle class has lost political leverage.
Mukherjea says the middle class contributes the most toward taxes but receives inadequate government support.
A new book links the middle class’s crisis to falling employment and stagnant wages.
The authors argue that social-media-driven envy is contributing to rising household debt.
The book says the middle class faces an existential crisis and an uncertain future of work.
- Who
- Investor Saurabh Mukherjea, along with Nandita Rajhansa and Sapana Bhavsar, examines the Indian middle class.
- What
- A new book argues that India’s middle class is facing an existential crisis driven by falling employment, stagnant wages and rising debt.
- When
- The claims are presented in the authors’ new book, Breakpoint: The Crisis of the Middle Class and the Future of Work; no publication date is stated.
- Where
- India, particularly its middle class and metropolitan urban areas.
- Why
- The authors argue that the middle class has lost political leverage despite contributing heavily toward taxes, while employment and wages have weakened and debt has increased.
- Book
- Breakpoint: The Crisis of the Middle Class and the Future of Work
- Authors
- Saurabh Mukherjea, Nandita Rajhansa and Sapana Bhavsar
- Central concern
- The claimed existential crisis facing India’s middle class
- Employment
- The book argues that employment is falling
- Wages
- The book argues that wages are stagnant
- Debt
- The authors link rising debt to social-media-driven envy
- Political influence
- Mukherjea argues that the middle class lacks political leverage despite contributing the most toward taxes