Final RMD Report

8/22/2019 Final RMD Report

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Alcohol consumption patterns in Tiruchirappalli

Detailed Report

Group 7

1201009 - Arun Chaitanya S

1201010 - Arun Nesa Chandra L

1201016 - Hemanand Y

1201040 - Rama Devi A V

1201042 - Samyuktha R

1201052 - Mithlesh Kumar Meena

Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli

Prof.: Hari Sreekumar

Date submitted: 23-November-2012


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Contents

LIQUOR INDUSTRY IN INDIA AN OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 3

PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................ 4

BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM : ..................................................................................................... 4

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ........................................................................................................... 5

RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................................................................................. 6

TYPE OF RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................................................ 6

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT AND PRETESTING .......................................................................... 7

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES ..................................................................................................................... 7

FIELDWORK ......................................................................................................................................... 8

FOCUS GROUP ......................................................................................................................................... 9

ISSUES DISCUSSED IN THE FOCUS GROUP ........................................................................................ 10

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST ACCORDING TO FOCUS GROUP .................................................... 12

MAJOR FINDINGS FROM FOCUS GROUP DATA ................................................................................ 14

IN DEPTH INTERVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 14

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST ....................................................................................................... 17

MAJOR FINDINGS FROM THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST ............................................................... 20

DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................... 21

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................ 21

PLAN OF DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................ 24

LIMITATIONS AND CAVEATS : ............................................................................................................... 24

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 24

EXHIBITS ................................................................................................................................................ 25


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LIQUOR INDUSTRY IN INDIA AN OVERVIEW

Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy was a

famous quote that conveyed a lot about alcohol consumption among people right from time

immemorial. India is no exception to this, with the liquor industry in India growing at a rapid

rate. Indian liquor Industry had a market value of INR 8500 crores in 2011 against INR 900crores in 1999 and is growing and is growing at 12-15 % per annum over the last two years.

Indian liquor industry is divided into two broad categories, Indian Made Foreign Liquor

(IMFL) and Country Made Liquor (CML).

The IMFL and Country liquor are further classified as follows:

IMFL Country Liquor

Whisky Licensed

Brandy Illicit

Rum

Vodka

Gin

Also there has been a significant shift in trend from Country Liquor to IMFL because of the

rising per capita income.

The alcohol consumption in India is projected to grow to 19000 million litres by 2015

from the level of 6700 million litres in 2011, a growth of 30% annually. The size of alcoholic

beverage market is set to touch Rs.1.4 lakh crore by 2015 from the present Rs. 50,700 crore.

All these point to a good time ahead for liquor companies, as the industry is projected to

grow three fold by 2015.

48%

36%

13%3%

Liquor Industry break-up

Country liquor

IMFL

Beer

Imported


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But the real picture behind the scenes is not so rosy for the liquor companies. The

Indian liquor industry is a high risk industry, primarily on account of the high taxes and

innumerable regulations governing it. As a result the liquor companies suffer from low

pricing flexibility and have inefficient capacities, which, in turn, have led to low margins and

weak financial profiles. Hence, while several strong brands have come up and the industryhas exhibited healthy volume growth over the past few years (for instance, the Indian- made

Foreign liquor (IMFL) segment has registered a 8-10% compounded annual growth rate over

the last three- four years), its highrisk profile continues to dog the industry.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM:

Tiruchirappalli, situated in the southern state of Tamil Nadu is well known as a

culturally heritage centre due to its proximity to the world famous ancient temples situated

in the nearby districts of Kumbakonam and Tanjore. Thus it has always been considered

culturally rich and traditionally valued. On the other side, it has been a fast growing

industrial hub and there has been a huge impact on the society as a whole due to the

presence of famous educational Institutions like National institute of

Technology, Trichy, Indian Institute of Management, Trichy, Sashtra Deemed University etc..

Thus this city is bound to have a complete mix of views on alcohol consumption as a whole.

Peoples line of thought has been continuously changing over the years with grow ing

acceptance and tolerance towards this issue.

Macro-Economic Environment

The macro economic factors which affect the Indian liquor industry can be classified

into two broad categories namely Legal and Social.

Legal Environment:

These include a host of legal bindings like ban on direct advertising, excise

regulations and licenses with state governments exerting considerable influence. Cap on

licensed capacity and special license for expansion has forced liquor companies to acquiresmaller companies than expand directly. Also a plethora of duties and taxes from bottling to

sales stage add to the list.

Social Environment:

Social Environment has a massive effect on the consumption of alcohol. The per

capita amount of alcohol consumption in India is very low which clearly shows the effect of

society on alcohol consumption pattern over the years. These include various protests

resulting in ban of alcohol advertisements. The first large scale movement against alcohol

began in the 1970s, when rural women in various parts of the country protested against the


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sale of liquor in their villages. It is always perceived that the views about alcohol

consumption in India usually do not come in shades of grey but often in black and white. But

the society has been changing in the recent decade due to westerners influence

India's reputation as a country with a culture of abstinence especially in matters

regarding alcohol is underserved, say experts. The country, which has seen a rapid

proliferation of city bars and nightclubs in recent years, is fast shedding its inhibitions about

alcohol as a lifestyle choice.

This situation has led to fears of an undocumented rise in alcohol abuse not only

among poorer classes but also in sections of society that were previously considered dry.

The health minister has recognised the scale of the problemand has called for a policy

that will regulate sales and the pricing of drink.

The concern, say experts, is that there has been a rapid change in patterns and

trends of alcohol use in India. Chief among them is people are beginning to drink at ever-younger ages. The percentage of the drinking population aged less than 21 years has

increased from 2% to more than 14% in the past 15 years. Many alcohol adverts now

feature spirited groups of young people having a good time. Although alcohol advertising is

banned in the electronic and print media, surrogate advertising is rife. The shifting

composition of Indian drinkers has seen a rise in the number of Indian women drinking

regularly and heavily. For instance, a recent study in the southern state of Karnataka found

young women consumed similar amounts of alcohol to young men on any typical drinking

occasion.

The change in social environment can be attributed to

Increase in disposable income

Changing lifestyle of middle class

Western culture influence

Changing trends among youngsters- parties and celebrations

Despite adoption of western lifestyles, middle class in urban India has yet to entirely do

away with the old mores and values. For few in the big city, the old values are still the core

of their identity, while for others they are suitable pretences, resulting in schizophrenicenvironment where youngsters grow up absorbing the worst of both the eastern and the

western influences.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The research attempts to study how the city of Trichy perceives alcohol

consumption. Any discussion on the issue portrays the society as a two different entity. We

versus they. But in reality, there is a huge amount of grey areas for discussion and people

are bound to have mixed views on this issue and this to a large extent reflects the difference


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in perceptions a consumer and non-consumer have. The study aimed to capture these

differences and make inferences out of the changing trends evolving in the society.

RESEARCH DESIGN

TYPE OF RESEARCH DESIGN

Indian society has always been regarded as highly diverse in terms of cultural

values/beliefs and lifestyle evolution. There is one sector of the society that considers

alcohol a strong taboo in the society. On the other extreme end, there exist a group of

people that consider it just as a personal trait. Thus, for a topic like alcohol consumption, in

the Indian society, there is bound to be a complete variety of perceptions because of the

heterogeneous mix of people it has. It is always treated as a broad spectrum of view with

two strong extremities. Thus we went about conducting both Qualitative and Quantitative

Research. We implemented the following

1) Survey method This was an efficient method to cover a large sample of the

population to make broad patterns on terms of usage and other characteristics so

that we can generalise behaviour of Trichy residents to alcohol consumption.

2) Focus Group Generally, a focus group can facilitate better discussions and sharing

of views when people of similar age/ lifestyle come together. For a topic like this,

making people interact with each other and come up with different viewpoints can

exactly simulate the societys varied viewpoints. Thus we implemented a focus

group.3) In- Depth Interview - We deployed an in-depth interview, so that a wide variety of

topic can be discussed at immense depth and this perception of a typical alcohol

consumer can facilitates bringing in a variety of dimensions to the topic under

discussion. Thus we also implemented an in-depth interview as a part of our

research.

4) Thematic Apperception Test: A sequence of pictures was shown to the respondents

about which the subject is asked to tell us a dramatic story. Important findings from

the test were the respondents sub conscious psychology and the way he or she

perceives alcohol consumption. Some of the important issues discussed when the

pictures were presented are:

what has led up to the event shown

what is happening at the moment

what was the characters are feeling and thinking

What was the outcome of the story was.


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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT AND PRETESTING

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

We implemented a questionnaire that seeks basic details like age, Profession, Education

etc. And the rest of the questions are implemented as indirect questions. Because, in a

society where alcohol consumption is still considered a sensitive issue to discuss upon, at

least with a stranger, people may not welcomingly encourage being questioned directly

upon their drinking habits. And also, taking into account a significant amount of non-

consumers, we had thus implemented an indirect questionnaire that asks questions from a

third person are perspective and not self.

About fourteen questions were covered under this section, in the questionnaire

We also incorporated rating questions that seek information on how alcohol consumption is

perceived by the society on various parameters, and the respondent will be asked toexpress his/her conformity to the statement in terms of level of agreement.

About 10 statements were provided under this section, in the questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE PRETESTING

Before going in for a field survey pre testing of the questionnaire was very

important because, for a discussion on a topic of sensitive nature like this (at least with a

stranger), many may not feel comfortable to answer honestly and end up giving random

answers. It was necessary to capture the unwillingness of the respondent in filling thequestionnaire .Thus we first tested the questionnaire on a sample size of 10 people to test

the lucidity of the data and the level of comfort/interest the respondent showed while filling

the data. After analysing the respondent behaviour on the above discussed parameters, we

incorporated some modifications and came up with a revised questionnaire that was

surveyed in the city of Trichy.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUESThe analysis was to seek for a broader picture of how alcohol consumption, as a

concept, is perceived by the society as a whole. This necessitated data to be gathered from

across all age groups, different sectors of people, and different educational background. For

example, a highly educated non-consumer may see the issue from an economic point as

well, as against the biased view an uneducated non consumer, which would reflect it as a

staunch social taboo, though the same need not hold among consumers of alcohol(as it was

evident from the data). We also felt that, the persons profession has a significant role to

play in the way he/she looks at this issue. For example, a person working in corporate may

have significant amount of tolerance and acceptance to drinking than a household lady.

Similarly, interviewing people from different professions brings out their additional direction

of perception. For example, a traffic police may have many times witnessed drunkards going


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out of control and causing problems on the city streets, for a doctor, he/she may bring out

the health hazard perspective of the issue etc..

Thus we tried to cover a diverse mix of people on the parameters of

1) Age2) Income groups( to classify them as SECs)

3) Educational Background

4) Profession

FIELDWORK

We split our team of six into three and we covered a major part of the city of Trichy. We

chose to go on a Sunday, as we could get to survey a variety of people and collectively

covered areas of

25%

75%

Gender

Female

Male

18%

58%

13%

11%

Age

19-22

23-26

27-31

>31

52%

9%

15%

26%

Income Group

Nil

20000


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1) Thillai Nagar: Basically, this area is perceived as a posh area due to the presence of

lot of exclusive retail brand showrooms and other big restaurants. This area would

cover the SEC A class of people we wanted to cover as a part of our survey. We

visited about 10 shops and 2 restaurants (Dominos Pizza and Marry brown) and

chose respondents on the 4 categories described above.2) Central Bus Stand: This area is where a lot of migrating crowd could be covered. We

felt that, people who are currently Trichy residents but are natives of other towns

need to be surveyed. Because, these people contribute to the changes that happen

in the perception of the existing society of Trichy city. For example, Trichy is home to

popular educational Institutions like National Institute of Technology Trichy, and

Sashtra Deemed University etc. The student crowd here is from all over India. All

these people contribute to the changing perceptions of the society. Also, a lot of

shopkeepers, auto drivers and restaurants get to reflect how these people perceive

the contribution of migrating population on the drinking habits prevalent in the city.So we covered Central Bus Stand and Railway Station areas, and chose respondents

on the 4 categories described above.

3) Spencers Super Market Area: Again, this area on a Sunday evening could collectively

represent all ages of a typical upper middle class family that come to shop groceries

and other utilities.

FOCUS GROUP

We conducted a focus group discussion to get a better insight about the alcohol

consumption because when people of similar nature interact, they are bound to express

things better and it was very necessary for a topic like ours. A focus group of 5 members was

conducted which went for about 45 minutes.

SELECTION OF MEMBERS TO THE FOCUS GROUP:

The members are a homogenous mix of people in terms of age and educational

background which consisted of both consumers and non-consumers of alcohol. This kind ofgroup would well depict the perceptions of how todays educated upper middle class youth

react to alcohol consumption.

A variety of topics were discussed varying from breaking the ice questions like the

craziest things that they have done or seen someone do when drunk to more serious

questions like problems they or society have faced because of this.

The moderator was given a discussion guide explaining the protocols / handling

directions of the focus group. A person well versed with trends in alcohol consumption and


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societal image of alcoholism as a concept, was chosen as the moderator. The moderator

remained only as a facilitator, at all times initiating the discussion on different lines of topics

ISSUES DISCUSSED IN THE FOCUS GROUPThe group started off with, the opening question of how many are alcohol

consumers and how many arent. This question itself facilitated a broad discussion on

whether alcoholism as a socially acceptable concept or not. When the non-consumer in the

group confessed he is a teetotaller, the group busted into laughter. This reflected the

change that has happened in todays youth. It seemed as though today, its in fact an

unacceptable thing to not drink.

After casual discussion on a few peoples experiences, the moderator facilitated the

group to discuss on why they (the group) / a person start consuming alcohol. The groupcame up with a variety of answers that reflected, under what circumstances, a person

cultivates the habit. In contrary to the popular belief that people start drinking due to peer

pressure, most of the responses reflected that, they resorted to alcohol out of their own

interest. Some members in the group said this was of great help in developing

acquaintances and, getting to know their colleagues/boss, informally better. They said they

felt more connected with the group if they were drinking with them.

The group then moved to the next aspect of how frequent people drink. This

question

The group was then asked to discuss about what was the best things in alcohol

consumption. Very interesting answers were given to these questions. They expressed the

way they cherished the happy moments of fun and celebrations.

The discussion point then moved to what people actually do after getting drunk.

Most of them confessed that they have faced a lot of funny embarrassing situations. One of

the respondent said, he once ran to the stage and did some funny act, in a concert. There

was also one funny thing quoted by another member

The only dangerous thing I do is, I end up calling my friends .. er... girls.. and the

next morning I get to know I spoke some stupid stuffs ,it feels very odd!!. I see to it that my

phone as away from me as possible! .

But the group unanimously felt that, these days, people dont get so over drunk and

cause a mess in their personal relationships, though the non-consumer in the group felt

that, mostly after a break up in his personal relationship, a guy definitely bitches about his

girlfriend.


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The discussion came to a serious business when the group discussed on how the

society perceives alcohol consumption. Many people felt that the society still perceives it as

a societal issue and not as a matter of personal wish. One of the members said

There is a very firm social stigma in Tamil Nadu. If you drink, people see you as a

macho and tough guy. But in cities like Bangalore and other metros; there is lot more

openness in the level of acceptance shown by the society.

The group unanimously agreed that drinking is generally a happy occasion for them.

When discussions about the foul smell from the liquor, the group mentioned that for the 1st

peg it stinks a lot but from the 3rd

peg the consumer will feel high and will actually like to

drink it.

The actual discussion on the topic took the centre point when the group discussed

on options for alcohol consumers in the city of Trichy.

One of the group members was very upset with the local state government liquor

agency.

In Trichy, the government is not friendly to liquor users. They complained about

not getting chilled beers. Premium brands like Blenders Pride and Teachers are not

available in the wine shops. They have to travel to the Trichy city to get one of those.

The group mentioned that they actually want a proper place to enjoy their drinks.

A lot of people in Trichy are ready to splash money on pubs and good quality bars.

They aspire to get a much richer experience of drinking. But what people in Trichy do is that

they go to buy wine shops buy the booze and have them in their home. Also the limited

seating in bars makes them to wait for a long time to enjoy the drink.

I see a huge market for pubs. We are trying new things out of compulsion not by

like.

The group then discussed about their preference for brands to get to know much

about their liking. Group said that they like to have Kingfisher in beer and in Whisky theylike to have Teachers, Signature and BlackDog. People were well aware of some exotic

brands like Jack Daniels Belgium Beers, Christopher. But they rarely have them as they

cannot afford them as a regular drink.

Some of the group members said that the brand of liquor depends upon mood.

People have 3-4 pegs of scotch when amidst elite group of people. Also they go to local low

end bars to come out of sad moments.

The moderator then brought a new dimension to the discussion by asking the group

members perspective about presenting liquor bottle as a gift to their loved ones. All the

group members or their family members have presented a liquor bottle as a gift. Sometimes


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people have gifted a very low brand drink to their friend and made him to drink that just to

make fun. But usually they gift a super-premium brand of liquor (Johnny Walker, Wine

Champagne or Black Dog) to their loved ones. Basically liquor is considered as a good gift

only if it is an expensive one and also it depends upon the person to whom you are gifting

to.

The moderator then facilitated the group to discuss the pros and cons of consuming alcohol.

The bad things about alcohol consumption are:

1) Bad for Health (Kidney & Liver)

2) Drinking affects the social status. (Professionally Not Good)

3) Need to spend a lot on that.

4) After Drinking, people get into trouble either by drunk and driving or by engaging

themselves in a brawl.5) People do crazy things after getting drunk. Eg: One of the group members friends

tried to walk on the railing of the 3rd

floor of the building.

Some of the good things that the group pointed out are:

1) You get the memories of you enjoying with friends.

2) You bond with new people.

3) Its good filer in convenience.

4) Lot of ideas come through while you are drunk.

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST ACCORDING TO FOCUS GROUP

The group members were shown 3 pictures and were asked to tell us in brief what

comes to their mind and what exactly do they think the picture is all about. This is to get

different perspectives from the group members on the same topic.


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Key findings from the TAT:

Picture 1:

The group was unanimous in perceiving this picture as a person in distress who has moved

to alcohol for comfort. The stress could be either from relationships or from profession.

Picture 2:

The group members felt that the second picture depicts people having fun at a pub. Few

mentioned that there are couples in the picture having drink. Whereas some said that he

people in pub were strangers to each other. They all looked happy and enjoying their drink.

The group pointed that the picture depicts alcohol being a medium to get socialize.


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Picture 3:

The third picture was perceived as two people discussing something crucial and generatingideas while drinking. One of the group member thought that they were talking about their

personal lives. Some people said that liquor unites different generations. Different

generations come together while boozing. Group members also thought that they could

have a lively discussion at their office too while drinking.

When asked how much addicted are they toward drinking, the group answered in a

different way. For one, it was not compulsory and also he could not drink alone. However

for some its a part of their routine. But still they can survive without it. One was very

curious about the different brands of liquor. He likes to try new brands and so he drinks.Most of them like drinking as an activity but only few like the drink itself. The focus group

then came to an end with this statement in unison.

MAJOR FINDINGS FROM FOCUS GROUP DATA

IN DEPTH INTERVIEW

The initial phase or the first phase of the interview was aimed to know more about

the person his family, schooling, college and how he is as a person. The respondent said that

he is from Karur, a place near to Trichy. His father works in Karur Vysya bank and his mother

is a homemaker. He is the only son. He has done his schooling from a Sainik school. His

schooling tells us that he is good at sports and can mingle easy with boys as its a boys only

school. Then he joined College of engineering Guindy, so it tells a lot about his intellectual

skills as only best brains get into that college.

Slowly we started with our second phase of the interview which deals with our very

own topic about alcohol consumption. The interviewer asked him when was the first time

he consumed alcohol, what made him to do so, how has it changed his life, how frequently

does he involve in drinking alcohol and how comfortable is his family with him drinking?


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The interviewee started off saying that he consumed alcohol for the first time at the

age of 17 when he stepped into the engineering college. The reason behind this was that

there was a bunch of his school friends (17 members) got into the same college for their

engineering. And out of curiosity they started to consume alcohol. Slowly the group size

increased and the alcohol consumption too increased. Initially he started consuming twice amonth and later as the years passed it went up to thrice a week. He said that whenever they

had cash they would actually go out to pubs, bars to drink. But during cash crunch days they

used to get it back to their hostels and drink. So this is more of a socializing activity for the

respondent. He said that he spends about 2000 to 3000 rupees per month on the alcohol

consumption. And he did share a situation when he drinks less when compared to his

friends. Whenever he used to treat friends he used to drink less or moderately as he wants

to remain conscious to clear off the bills at end of the treat as some of the bar guys can

manipulate with the bills. He further said that his parents are not aware of his drinking

habits. They still think that he is a nice boy without any bad habits. He added onto it sayingthat if ever they get to know that he drinks, they will definitely disown him.

We continued asking him some generalist questions like how would the families

actually react to their kids drinking, is income earning levels proportional to alcohol

consumption, Is it good that parents know about the drinking habits so that that would keep

a control on their alcohol consumption, what do you think on women drinking?

He replied that there is a generation gap between parents and the younger ones. So

no parent usually will agree to their kids drinking. And this is to do with the culture and their

bought up. He added on saying that there are some of his friends who used to drinks with

their father and uncles as their way of living is totally different. He continued saying that

there is no relation as such that well to do families only consume alcohol. Here in TamilNadu

most of them consume alcohol but the only difference is the kind of a drink what they have

and the brand. And to the question asked about is it good that if parents get to know about

the drinking habits then it would set a control on consumption of alcohol. To that he replied

that these days many people go to cities stay in hostel for study very far away from their

homes. So this kinds of encourages people to involve or force in drinking to increase their

bandwidth of networking and its up to the person if he wants to let his parents know about

his drinking habits. And according to him the women can drink if they want to but he prefers

that they should at least stop drinking once when they get married. As women drinking is

not good for the society. He thinks that men drink to socialize and whenever they are

depressed but women only drink to socialize but not when in depression.

When asked about women drinking nowadays. The respondent perceives that

women drinks only to get socialize. Unlike men they dont drink when they are depressed or

when they feel they are dejected. Men may move to alcohol in case of love failures but

women wont go for alcohol even when there are complications in relationships. The

respondent feels that women only in the urban areas like metros are exposed to drinking


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culture. And those in rural areas do not drink. They drink only to mingle more with their

friends.

He strongly feels that the women can drink until they get married. If they do so it will

be better for the family. Even after marriage if they want to drink they can tell it to their

husband and can enjoy their drink with their husband. He feels that after marriage women

drinking in a public place to get socialize is not socially acceptable.

The respondent said that at the start they usually discuss about the different brands

of liquor to buy. Later they start talking about their inner feelings. They discuss about their

lady love or their crushes. They also discuss their college happenings and family problems.

They usually discuss those things which are yet to be discussed or shared with anyone.

When asked what does he talks about when drunk. The respondent chuckled and said that

only his friends can comment on that.

The respondent said that they used to tease people who get high very easily.

Drinkers judge themselves with the number of rounds that they can handle. The respondent

said he remains steady even after having 10 large rounds of whisky.

He usually consumes whisky. His favourite brands are Signatures and Teachers.

Because they are good brands that too at affordable prices. He consumes high end brands

when any of his friends throws a party. In case of unavailability of whisky he goes for

Brandy. He never consumes beer as it takes a long time to get high by consuming the beer.

He thinks that 3 bottles of beer is equivalent to 4 large rounds of whisky. He thinks that a

high end brand does not affect health as much as other local brands.

While discussing about the health hazards of consuming alcohol the interviewee

quoted some examples of his neighbour going to coma due to prolonged consumption of

alcohol. He is also aware of the fact that drinking is not good for liver. But still he has a faith

in himself that he is not going to face any of those misfortunes. For him it affects his eyes.

His eyes get red for 5 days when he drinks. His doctor advised him to reduce the frequency

of having alcohol. He has now reduced it to twice a month. But He said that when a

doctor says them to reduce drinking they dont usually pay heed to them. Only if it is very

serious health issue then only they listen to the doctors and follow their advice. He also

asked the doctor not to reveal about his drinking habit to his parents.

The respondent was very familiar with the pubs in Chennai. He compared Chennai

with Trichy for drinking options. He said that there are very good few places in Trichy like

SRM, Sangam in which he would like to spend money for drinking. But when compared to

Chennai, Trichy has very less number of high end bars. Trichy has a number of TASMAC

shops. In Trichy there are many colleges and they usually like to have their drink in Pubs and

Bars. If some good pubs come in Trichy like Chennai then he is willing to go there at least

once in a month and is willing to spend as much as he used to spend in Chennai.


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He also pointed out that in Chennai lot of IT crowd, whereas Trichy is full of college

crowd. Not every college student would like to go to pub. But IT professionals would like to

get distressed by having their drinks in Pubs and expensive bars. He pointed that the

migrating crowd at Chennai is very adaptable than Trichy.

The Interviewer then asked about drink and driving. The interviewee mentioned

after drinking we feel that we are driving properly but a non-consumer, who is with that

person, can tell us that he is not driving properly. Usually they have a person in their gang

who doesnt drinks and helps them to get back to home safely after getting drunk. He also

mentioned an incident of his friend being drunk and drove to Chennai from ECR. They met

with an accident in which the 2 people in front were killed on the spot.

When asked about the impact of movies on drinking behaviour the interviewee said

that their smoking behaviour usually get influenced by movies. In TamilNadu, people

emulate stars like Rajinikant in smoking. . He said the he does not smoke because he feels

that it is readily available and he fears that he might become addicted to it.

To the end of the interview the interviewer asked the interviewee whether he would

accept his son to share a drink with him. He imagines himself in a metro city in future and

expects his son to start drinking sooner than himself. So he is well comfortable in sharing a

drink with his son. He also mentions that he wants his son to go for social drinking rather

than being a drunkard. He said that he will not accept his wife or daughter drinking. But

towards the end he feels that those who are not drinking are definitely missing a joy of li fe.

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TESTAs a part of the research, we also included a thematic apperception test. It is a very

strong projective technique as the answer that a respondent gives to the picture can

provide information on the respondents perception of him and how he sees the society.

When this is done, what was expected out of the respondent is that, his/her storyline would

basically reflect his personality and, perception of the topic under discussion.

In this picture interpretation technique, we used a 3 pictorial sequence ofprovocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the respondent was asked to perceive a

story sequence. We implemented this TAT on a sample of 50 respondents. Though majority

of them answered in similar lines, there was a complete variety of answers that depicts how

a group of people in the same society think and/or perceive differently.


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Picture 1:

This picture depicts a person in deep thought with a bottle of drink in his hand.

Most of the respondents perceived this picture as someone in a stressed situation and

resorting to a drink. But still there were a variety of answers that reflected the variance in

thoughts and imagination of a scene by people in the society.

Some of the different perceptions that were brought about in the first picture are

The person is in a dilemma. Neither able to quit the habit nor able to resist it

The persons bottle is half empty. He is suffering a severe head ache and is unable to finish

the drink

The person is thinking about his family back home and is depressed

The person has had a break up with his girlfriend because of his alcohol consumption. But

funny guy, he is again resorting to the drink for solace. This is what alcohol does to a

person.

This guy has lost his money in businessand finding relief over a drink

This guy is in serious trouble and thinking about a solution for it


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Picture 2:

This picture depicts a scene at a pub with lot of young boys and girls enjoying over

Some of the answers that came up are

Its a bunch of IT guys hanging out at a pub

Its a party in America or a foreign country but not India

Its a sports bar where people are watching IPL and having drinks enjoying with their

friends.

Its a place in Bangalore or Chennai where youngsters drink and would love to go to this

kind of a place someday.

Its a party in a big actors house, may be to celebrate the films success.


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Picture 3:

This picture depicts two working professionals catching up with each other after work over afew drinks.

Some of the answers that came up are

Father and son drinking together and discussing about the family matters

The guy in the blue T-shirt is having drinks and the guy in grey hair or the old guy is asking

him not to drink

The old guy is about to offer a cigarette from his pocket to guy in the Blue T-shirt when

they are drinking

Two friends have a ball over a couple of drinks

Alcohol can bring two different generations together. Its a good socialising tool.

The old guy (father in law) is advising his son in law to take care of his daughter and resolve

the issues they are facing over a few beers

Two big shot business men discussing about acquiring a company over a few drinks

Manager and the subordinate having drinks together

MAJOR FINDINGS FROM THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TESTEvery individual has his own perspective about the pictures shown to them. This

perception was built on a concrete layer of their kind of work life, education, and the place

where they live. We did find a few creative and more unimaginative respondents to our TAT.

Mostly the picture descriptions revealed their underlying values, attitudes and beliefs.


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The overall perception of people residing in Trichy is usually alcohol is consumed when-

ever there rejection, failure, dejection in their life. People coming together to drink happens

in major cities in India or else its usually the goons, rowdies or lower level income people.

But the major finding in TAT is that people try to relate drinking with various emotions of

human life. They just didnt accept that people can drink without any emotional trauma orexcitement. So, casual drinking is a strict no from Trichy respondents.

DATA ANALYSIS

METHODOLOGY

The research design we had undertaken involves analysing the influence of society on

alcohol consumption. As already mentioned our Indian society has a divided opinion on

alcohol consumption. Majority of our society still views alcohol consumption as a taboo

whereas a few strata of people view it as a form of social acceptance. Our researchmethodology focus is on interpreting this qualitative gauge between the two extremities

and analysing the characteristics that has led to this preference.

So we went for a quantitative analysis that would set the process of identifying major

features contributing towards their take on alcohol consumption. Thus far we have

identified that society presents a view on when people consume alcohol in a surprising

manner.


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1 24 years

We have found that youngsters between 20 30 years were equally distributed over their

opinions preferring all the 3 options in an equal space. However middle aged and seniorcitizens have a negative image as they consider nowadays people start consuming alcohol at

a very young age. It leads us to a generalization that the second sector of people are more

skewed towards considering that still the society at large considers alcohol consumption as

a taboo.

The percentage of income that each person spends on alcohol for a month is influenced

greatly by the monthly income of the person. Further a regression analysis with age and

income of the persons influence on their budget for alcohol consumption for a month is

rather straightforward.

Higher the income higher is the spending on alcohol. Also when observed with the age

group we find that students depending on parents income tend to comment that people

spend less amount of money for a month on alcohol. The regression diagram shows the

same

Variables Entered/Removed

Model

Variables

Entered

Variables

Removed Method

1 Age, Monthly

Income (in Rs)a

. Enter

a. All requested variables entered.

Variables Entered/Removed

Model

Variables

Entered

Variables

Removed Method

1 Age, Monthly

Income (in Rs)a

. Enter

a. All requested variables entered.

Coefficient

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 2.300 .302 7.616 .000

Monthly Income (in Rs) .077 .054 .131 1.430 .155

Age -.012 .011 -.102 -1.115 .267

a. Dependent Variable: What do you think would be the average amount people would spend for alcohol in amonth? (in Rs)


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Although we have arrived at certain characteristics that determine the preference of alcohol

consumption through quantitative analysis, more insight would be obtained only if we take

on an in depth analysis of each characteristics. Thus qualitative analysis obtained through

the methods of focus group, in depth interview and Thematic Apperception Test. The

cardinal principle of qualitative analysis is that causal relationships and theoretical

statements be clearly emergent from and grounded in the phenomena studied. The theory

emerges from the data; it is not imposed on the data.

The Thematic Apperception Test as detailed above provides in detail the mind set of people

perceive about a product and how they experience the product. Alcohol being a product

always associated with experience as its immediate benefit the TAT analysis represents this

view of people as they associate perceives that the person would drink depending on what

would be the mental state of the people in the picture.

Moving on to the focus group we find remarkable traits of alcohol consumers which consist

of young ambitious graduates who constitute the future managers of our society. According

to them Trichy as a developing city still requires to equip itself such that it can move forwardcatering the requirements of the students and executives who often stop here for their


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businesses. Aside from this view they also present the perspective of alcohol consumers in

Trichy as they consider alcohol as an escape route rather than an instrument for social

acceptance.

These techniques gave the common general characteristics of how alcohol consumers areperceived as a group. But it might vary from people to people so we conducted an in depth

interview through we could arrive at certain decisions of whether peoples perception of

alcohol consumers and his traits does match or not. Our interviewee does understand the

prospective health problems by consuming alcohol however he asserts that limited

consumption for the element of fun would mean no harm to the individual or society at

large.

RESULTS

LIMITATIONS AND CAVEATS:

1) We need to understand the underlying implications of researching on a topic like

alcohol consumption in the Indian context. The Indian society has been rapidly

changing in fields like education, jobs, attire etc. due to Westerners influence. But

alcohol consumption however still remains a debated topic. There are many shades

of grey area in discussions on this, which may not come reflect absolute accuracy.

2) Due to the sensitivity of the topic, there was unresponsiveness of respondents in

many instances.3) The focus group discussion facilitated our team to understand a clear picture of how

todays educated youth feel about alcohol consumption. But the society is still a

larger mix.

INFERENCES AND CONCLUSIONS

The city of Tiruchirappalli has a divided opinion on alcohol and the divide basically lies

among the age group and income level. Also Trichy being an educational hub there is a

constant flow of floating student population from various metros & cities with diverse

background. Although these factors duly form a strong argument in deciding the perception

on alcohol consumption the factor which plays the deciding point is the conservative view of

the people in Trichy.

In a society where alcohol is one of a social acceptance measure most people drink well

within the limits of consumption and maintain a balanced life. However, as mentioned

before the conservative view of alcohol as a taboo in Trichy restricts its entry into thesociety. This makes people unaware of the limits of consumption and this in turns into a


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cycle. But now among the younger generation perception has changed as they consider

alcohol as one of their ways of socialising. Thus as a poetic statement our project provides

the insight the future of alcohol consumption in Trichy is not only strong but healthy.


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EXHIBITS

Questionnaires and forms:

Questionnaire

Gender*

MALE FEMALE

Age *

Place of Origin *

Relationship Status *

Married Single In a relationship

Education Qualification *

Profession * Monthly Income *

< 5000 5000 -20000 20000 50000 > 50000 Other:

Why do you think people start consuming alcohol ( first time)? *

To not feel out of place, when with a group of friends

To cope with emotional stress

Due to social pressure from friends or family

Out of curiosity

Never really had a reason

Other:

At what age do you feel people start consuming alcohol? *

Below 18 years

18-22 years

23-27 years

Above 27 years

Other:How often do you think people drink? *

Twice a week or more often

Once a week

Once in 2 weeks

Once in a month

Once in 2-3 months


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Less often

Other:

What type of liquor do you think people prefer? *

Beer

Whisky

Rum

Brandy

Vodka

Wine

Other:

Where do you think people like to consume alcohol? *

Bar

At pubs

At Parties

At home

At friend / relative's place

At wine shop

Other:

Please rate the following statement on the following categories *

Strongly

Agree 5Agree 4

Neither

Agree nor

disagree 3

Disagree 2Strongly

Disagree 1

Alcohol

consumption

is stress

relieving.

Drinking

makes

people lose

their

emotional

balance

Alcohol

consumption

affectsrelationships.


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Strongly

Agree 5Agree 4

Neither

Agree nor

disagree 3

Disagree 2Strongly

Disagree 1

Peoples

choice of the

drink

depends on

their mood

Alcohol

consumption

is

detrimental

to the family

Alcoholism

affects

performance

at work/ or

in studies

Alcohol

consumption

is harmless if

practiced in

moderation

Alcohol is a

social evil

What are the liquor brands that you are aware of? *

Can you think of any other brands?

Please take a look at this card. Which of the brands listed here are you aware of? *

Aware of the brandAware if the brand given

a clue

McDowells

Honeybee

Royal Stag

Bagpiper

Kingfisher


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Aware of the brand

Aware if the brand given

a clue

Signature

Antiquity

Blenders Pride

Imperial Blue

Stella Artois

Londons Pride

Hoegarden

Becks

Tsingtao

Tiger

Tuborg

Carlsberg

Vat 69

Remy Martin

Glenlevvit

Absolut

Absinth

Fuel

Captain

Morgan

Romanov

Schneiderweizz


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Aware of the brand

Aware if the brand given

a clue

Fosters

Morpheus

Ballentines

Baileys

What do you think would be the average amount people would spend for alcohol in a month *

Rs 15000

Other:

Final RMD Report

Documents

Transcript of Final RMD Report