Outnumbered in readership by the vernacular press, a section of the English print media has come up with a rather strange ad that seems to assert the stereotype of the English-speaking elite. 

A joint advertisement by Hindustan Times, Hindu, Telegraph, and the Times of India presented readers with a dataset on Indians with economic mobility on Wednesday. Towards the end, it added a strange subset to ostensibly attribute to the English newspaper a key role in India’s growth story and the lives of the affluent Indians suggested in the previous dataset.

It then told readers to “do the math”.

“1% of Indians take home 22% of the country’s income. 1% of Indians account for 45% of all flights. 3% of Indians make up all unique credit card holders. 2.6% of Indians invest in mutual funds. 8% of Indians constitute 100% car ownership. 6.5% of Indian users account for about 44% of all UPI transactions. 5% of Indian users account for about 33% of all orders placed on Zomato. 7.4% of urban Indians read an English newspaper. Do the math. Thank you,” it read.

While the 2011 census estimated that over 10 percent of Indians reported being able to speak some English, other surveys have suggested that the figure is much less in a country where a significant chunk of the population is unable to even read or write. Hinting at a class angle, a Lok Foundation survey had said that 41 percent of the rich in India could speak English as compared to less than two percent of the poor.

However, the English-speaking elite as an idea has met with disdain in recent years, amid the Narendra Modi government’s push for Hindi. The dear leader himself had just last year asserted that English is just a medium of communication, not a mark of being intellectual. Even medical degrees and curriculum could soon be in Hindi even as a large number of Indians look at English as the language of aspiration, a medium which could help them get better jobs despite rising unemployment.

The ad, meanwhile, left readers perplexed and unable to calculate. Many asked if it was trying to highlight income inequality or some exclusive club.

The most profound observation seemed to be the one linking the ad to media revenue. “If you advertise in an English newspaper, you will reach every Indian who matters when it comes to spending money.”