> I don't see that same characteristic in Indian culture; of course there is a market for luxury goods but it's not the same.
Can it be just because of the difference in disposable income in the countries? I don't know any reliable metric for income but the GDP per capita of PRC is five times that of India. The quench for luxurious goods comes with rising income.
Yes, but China only became rich enough that lots of wealthy young Chinese could be buying iPhones recently. I do not think it would be unreasonable to make the same bet on India being a decade or two behind.
" benefited from periods of global growth" -> China had incredible post-2008 growth, that is a large part of why there are so many people buying iPhones.
> India has different politics
What do you mean? It's more inequitable than China and has more political capture by private actors, but I don't see why the same couldn't occur in India.
Can it be just because of the difference in disposable income in the countries? I don't know any reliable metric for income but the GDP per capita of PRC is five times that of India. The quench for luxurious goods comes with rising income.