Business in US targeting Indian Americans

Last updated on: October 24, 2010 at 12:47 pm by Desh Kapoor

Business in US targeting Indian Americans 2010-10-24T12:47:12-05:00 Desh Kapoor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Indian Americans are now being looked at by the local media in the US. In the last many years, specifically from the late 1990s to now, the Indian Americans have grown in numbers but more so in wealth and consumer influence.

There was a strong rush into the US, during the time of Y2K issues. A lot of programmer came to help the companies. Most stayed on as they morphed in other areas of programming. A lot of them also came to implement the ERPs, projects for which were started to take care of the Y2K issue as well.

Now, that set of Indians have settled and settled well. Most have gotten their coveted “Green Cards” (permanent residence) and a substantial number have become US citizens as well. Suddenly, these well earning citizens become very important.

They still have roots back home and in many cases, for some reason or the other – property investment or for helping their parents – they do send money home as well. That is one reason why Banks are targeting them.

That is why, I wasn’t very surprised when I walked into a Citibank branch in Katy – a suburb of Houston – and saw the picture for Diwali pasted all over the branch in its advertisement. To the non-Indians, this may seem like a couple enjoying themselves with some firework but to Indians it has a distinct meaning. And that is what they are working on. In fact, in this holiday season they have chosen to target and address the Indians in the area.

This is a growing trend. I had recently seen a big bill board from Wells Fargo with an ad in “Hinglish” – like the ones that are often put up in India. And that was on one of the busiest roads West of Houston (Highway 6).

Check out Hinglish Ads in US media to target Indians

Indian Americans are good for the economy. The Employment rate has been high, the income levels are high. Most have paid off their houses – most of my friends have. And they have surplus cash even in these times. So it makes good sense to target them. Interestingly, I haven’t seen that kind of addressing of the Pakistani community here. The Pakistani community in the last 20 years has not been comprised of professionals but businessmen or people doing odd jobs. The way doctors and engineers used to come (high quality ones at that) from Pakistan in the 1970s and 1980s, that is not happening as much now. Earlier the proportions of Indian doctors and engineers and the Pakistani ones would be very close, but in the last 2 deacdes, while India saw an IT boom and sent many of its sons and daughters here, Pakistanis couldn’t match up. Instead their community became increasingly linked to extremism and terrorism.

Business

Previous Post

October 23, 2010

Finding Balance: How to Have a Devotional Life Without Being a Monk

Next Post

October 25, 2010 Living in the World of Facebook and Twitter

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aarti Achievement and Leadership AfPak Africa Annual and Year-end Asia Audio Australia Behavioural Sciences Bhagwad Gita Bhagwad Gita Blogging Blogs Business Business Intelligence Business Strategy Cannes Careers Chanakya China Conservation Corruption Creative Daily Links Desh Poems Development & Welfare Devotional Audio Devotional Songs Drama Earth Economics Education Entertainment Environment Europe Everyday Quotes Featured Articles Featured Songs Finance Flickr Pictures Food Geo-Political Global Warming Globalization Health & Medicine Hinduism Historic History Humour India Indian Culture Indian music Indian Weddings Israel Issues Legal Link Love Minorities Misc Motivation and Personal Development Movie Lists Movie Reviews Movies Mumbai terror attacks Natural Disasters Nature News Outsourcing Pakistan Parenting Personal Philosophy Poetry Politics Poverty Quotes Recipe Regular Blog Post Relationships Religion Religious/Spiritual Audio Sciences Showcase Slideshow South Asia Special Stories Spiritual Quotes Spirituality Sports Stories Strategy Technology Technology Terrorism Travel Uncategorized US Video Women Women_s Rights Worship Yoga

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was sent by the Jerusalem church to witness revival in Samaria?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Silas and Timothy James and John Peter and John Paul and Barnabas