Kids get Rs. 364 cr...

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Courtesy UNI

New Delhi, Apr 5 Children living in the big cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore get a whopping Rs 364 crore as pocket money and gifts per year.

What is more, they spend as much as 80 per cent of the amount, that is, Rs 291 crore, reveals a kids lifestyle survey ''New Generations'', conducted by Cartoon Network Ltd.

According to the survey covering 4.02 million kids in 14 cities in the age group of seven to 14, 39 per cent of these children receive Rs 1848 pocket money per year while the other 60 per cent receive Rs 306 gift money per year.

If one were to add the money that the kids receive each year, it comes to a whopping Rs 364 crore and with a spending rate of 80 per cent, these children spend Rs 291 crore a year.

While children in cities receive, on an average, Rs 154 as pocket money per month, what is suprising is that children in the four to six age group, receive Rs 100 as pocket money per month while those in the seven to nine age group get Rs 117 per month.

Mumbai kids get the highest average monthly pocket money of Rs 202, followed by Bangalore (Rs 139) and Delhi (Rs 135).

That over the years the difference between the spending propensity of small city and big city kids has decreased is evident from the fact that while children in the six metros get Rs 147 as average pocket money per month, those in smaller cities get Rs 135. While boys get an average monthly allowance of Rs 164, girls get Rs 142.

Among the favourite toys of the modern generation kids are video games with 16 per cent children saying that they played them most, followed by car and car accessories with nine per cent and then dolls with eight per cent. Among the fast emerging choices for kids were remote controlled toys, which were the favourite toys for six per cent of children, and beyblades, which four per cent kids described as their favourite toys.

The survey reveals that 84 per cent of the parents have taken their children with them for shopping, with 63 per cent of them shopping with their kids at least once a month. Also, one in four kids ask for something every time they are out shopping and, what is more surprising, most of them get what they want as well.

In fact, there is a 74 per cent chance of a child asking his parents to buy something for him while shopping and 77 per cent chance of the parents relenting.

Another interesting finding that the survey revealed was that in a majority of cases, a child's opinion and choice is taken into consideration while deciding to purchase even high value items.

About 71 per cent of the parents surveyed agreed that their children influence the choice the brand while buying television sets. The figure was 70 per cent for computers, 67 per cent for mobile phones and 66 per cent on the purchase of a car.

The survey, carried out in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Nashik, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Cochin, Madurai and Guwahati, covered a sample of 8,927 respondents comprising 4,043 children - the remainder being their parents