SEC Classification (India)

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The SEC Classification (also called the Socio-Economic Classification) is a classification

of households used by surveyors, market researchers, media and marketing companies in
India to categorize consumer behavior. Originally developed by IMRB International as a way
of understanding market segments, and consumer behavior it was standardized and adopted
by the Market Research Society of India in the mid-1980s as a measure of socio-economic
class and is now commonly used as a market segmentation tool in India.

The SEC Classification consists of two grids-

 The Urban SEC Grid, which uses Education levels and Occupational criteria of the
Chief Wage Earner (CWE) of a household as measures to determine socio-economic
classification, and segments urban India into 7 groups (A1 to E2) and
 The Rural SEC Grid, which uses Education and Type of House (pucca, semi-pucca,
and katcha) as measures of socio-economic class, and segments rural India into 4 groups
(R1,R2,R3,R4)

These grids are used to determine the consumption preferences, and purchasing power of
households, and are common tools used by social and business researchers working in India.
The SEC grid does not use family income levels as a measure as this data is hard to collect
and it has been demonstrated that education levels and occupation criteria in India are better
determinants of consumer preference. The methodology used in these tools differs from the
Household Potential Index, which measures consumption intensity.

[edit] Urban SEC Grid

Some
Scho
Scho college Graduate/Po
Illiterat ol up SSC/HS Graduate/Postgrad
ol 5–9 but not st Graduate
e to 4 C uate general
years graduat professional
years
e
Unskilled E2 E2 E1 D D D D
Skilled Workers E2 E1 D C C B2 B2
Petty traders E2 D D C C B2 B2
Shop Owners D D C B2 B1 A2 A2
Businessmen
with No D C B2 B1 A2 A2 A1
employees
Businessmen
with 1-9 C B2 B2 B1 A2 A1 A1
employees
Businessmen
with 10+ B1 B1 A2 A2 A1 A1 A1
employees
Self Employeed
D D D B2 B1 A2 A1
professional
Clerical/Salesma
D D D C B2 B1 B1
n
Supervisory
D D C C B2 B1 A2
Level
Officers/Executiv
C C C B2 B1 A2 A2
es-Junior
Officers/Executiv
B1 B1 B1 B1 A2 A1 A1
es-Mid/Senior

It divides the population into 3 classes:

 Upper most segment of the consuming class-A1,A2 and B1

 Middle segment- B2 and C
 The lower most segment—D, E1, and E2.