Brown Money: Estimated hidden cost in unused goods up to Rs 56,200 crore

Hyderabad: Most of us have either a bicycle or a huge furniture or even books laying dormant in our houses but how many of us would have thought that we are actually stocking Rs 22,000 crore worth of unused goods in our houses (in 2013-14). If the findings of the used good marketplace OLX’s CRUST (consumer research on used-goods and selling trends) survey 2014-15 are to go by then the used goods market in India is estimated to grow 1.5 times and be around Rs 56,200 crore ($9029 million).”

People are buying more, consuming more, and in the process wasting more. ‘Brown Money’ that refers to the money that is locked in goods gathering dust in our homes is estimated to be at least Rs 56,200 crore this year majorly from metros and tier-1 which constitute 60 per cent of  the total value,” said OLX chief executive officer Amarjit Singh Batra.

Elaborating further on moentisation, he said OLX is going to offer priority space for premium listings at a cost in comparison to free listing for local classifieds being offered currently. According to the survey, the number is so huge that it is enough to launch the Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan 125 times over, can clear entire arrears of the Food Corporation of India, and is one-and-a-half times the annual budget allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme.

Each urban household is stocking an estimated '8,400 worth goods and in tier-1 cities it is as high as Rs 19,500 crore. The top three categories for stocking are clothing, utensils and books. North India topped the chart with 48 per cent and eastern India stocked the most with 97 per cent.