Inflation has been a feature of history during the entire period when money has been used as a means of payment. Inflation decreases the value of money and makes it more expensive to buy goods and services. Initially Humans used to do exchange Rice/Grains for goods, then came iron, silver and gold. With each country bringing their own currency, in gold/silver and now paper exchange with other countries and there is a ratio to it. For ex US dollar in 2012 equals around 50 INR, whereas now 1 US dollar is equal to around 87 INR in 2025. This is how there is inflation and things getting priced more. In Short, your money is losing value due to inflation.
WHAT IS INFLATION
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising and the purchasing power of money is falling. On the other hand, Money is anything that can be used for exchanging various goods and services. Money is in the form of coins as well as paper notes.
To Understand inflation better let take example of gold, the price of gold in 1990 was just 3200 INR 24KT/10gm vs 98,000 INR 24KT/gm in 2025. even if we compare prices around 5 years before it was around 48,000. Now you see 2x in just 5 years. But other things like salaries haven’t increased like gold as starting salaries are still under 10k-15k since 2010. So, you can say inflation is what makes buying things costly and hard to buy. But for others like stock investors its good as the stock’s price increases with inflation, not like necessarily but to some extent mostly.
History of Inflation in India
India has been plagued by the disease of Inflation since 1950’s, but it has started showing its harmful effects since 1991. The average inflation rate has been stubborn at 9.3% per year till the end of 19th century.
Top 5 Inflation spikes in India: The following years show the rise in inflation rates:
- 1974: Inflation increased by 22.85%.
- 1975: Inflation increased by 13.38%.
- 1967: Inflation increased by 9.82%.
- 1998: Inflation increased by 8.56%.
- 1977: Inflation increased by 5.79%.
Top 5 Inflation drops in India: The following years show the fall in inflation rates:
- 1966: Inflation dropped by -2.26%.
- 2008: Inflation dropped by -2.53%.
- 2019: Inflation dropped by -2.89%.
- 1985: Inflation dropped by -3.17%.
- 1971: Inflation dropped by -3.36%.
Houses in 90s vs Today. What’s Changed?
You may have heard your elders say, we had our first job and even bought a house in those days; but you on the other side with same age don’t even have a stable job or savings, and buying a house is just a dream now, thanks to rising prices of land and building materials. Hilariously the cost to get repairs done on the same house can be more than what it was actually purchased for. Here are some points which shows the difference between availability of houses in early 90s vs now:
- The Price Tag: This is the biggest change.
- In the 90s: Housing prices were very low, especially outside the main big cities. For many middle-class families, buying a flat or even a small independent house was a challenging goal, but this goal can be achieved with the help of savings and small loans, plus help from the relatives.
- Today: Now prices have increased a lot. A flat in a city that cost a few lakhs in the 90s might cost a crore or more today. Buying a home, especially in urban areas, feels like a big financial hurdle for most of the people and also requires a lot of saving as well as big loans. You can end spending your life 10-20 years just to repay the loan on the house bought over EMI.
2. The Structure of house: The structure of houses has also been changed now as compared to 90s houses due to inventions and marketplaces available bringing tech from distant places.
- In the 90s: Homes were very simple. Flats didn’t have many facilities like gyms, swimming pools etc. Independent houses were very common. No Fancy lighting, no fancy paint, interior it was all simple and most of the time handmade decorated by the housewives.
- Today: But now there are so many varieties in the structure of houses. Today’s flats have various facilities like swimming pools, gyms, home theaters, car parking, lifts etc. Flats are now with different types of rooms, features and decorations with even smart houses coming. Those features empty the pocket more and part of a big expense.
3. The change in place: There is also a change in place where people used to live which further leads to increase in rate of inflation. The migration of people from living in villages to the cities for better facilities and access to amenities like better schools, hospitals, infrastructure.
- In the 90s: While cities were growing, more people used to live in smaller towns or independent homes in less crowded areas.
- Today: But now there is a movement of people from villages to towns for jobs. This movement of population is a big reason why urban land have become so expensive. This is also a big reason for rise in inflation as compared to early 90’s.
4. Buying a home (loans): There is also a change in the availability of loans which also becomes a reason for increase in the rate of inflation.
- In the 90s: The availability of loans was not easy as they are now. People have to save a large amount of money in order to give a down payment at the time of purchasing a house.
- Today: But now the availability of loans becomes easy. The loans can be available from banks as well as other financial institutions. This loan can be used for buying a house. But the amount needed for buying a house is huge which leads to large monthly payments (EMIs).
Also Read, Smart Ways to Invest Money
Salaries in the 90s vs. Today. What’s Changed?
Here are some points which shows the difference between the availability of salaries in early 90s and now:
- The amount of money as a salary: There is a huge change in the availability of amount of money in early 90’s vs. now.
- In the 90s: The actual amount of money earned per month was very low in terms of money. An entry-level job might pay a few hundred or maybe a low thousand rupees per month. Even experienced professionals might have salaries that seem very small as compared to today’s standards (e.g., ₹5,000 – ₹15,000 per month).
- Today: Salaries are numerically very high. An entry-level job for a graduate often starts from ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 per month or more. Experienced professionals can earn salaries in lakhs per month.
2. Types of Jobs & Opportunities: There is a huge change in jobs &opportunities.
- In the 90s: The types of jobs available in the market was different than now. The software/IT industry also had less scope. Many jobs were in traditional manufacturing, government sectors, or established service industries.
- Today: But now, there are various types of jobs available in the market. There is a high scope in jobs like tech, IT services, startups, finance etc. These newer sectors provide high salaries which further leads to faster growth.
3. What the Salary Could Buy (The Catch!): Now the salary can be used for various purposes as compared to early 90s.
- In the 90s: The amount of rupee was very low. Many basic things were also very cheap like groceries. So that smaller amount of money was used to buy these things. But it was difficult to buy big things such as cars, homes etc. You could buy like whole year of groceries and still have some money left.
- Today: Now the salaries are much higher in number as compared to early 90s. As a result, the cost of everything has gone up i.e. inflation. Things like housing, education, healthcare etc. becomes very costly. Even buying groceries for a month is difficult for a few people even with the high salaries.
Prices of gold in the 90s vs today. What’s changed?
Here are some points which shows the difference between price of gold in 1990’s vs. today.
Gold’s Price: In the early 1990s(1990 to 1992) the price of 24- carat of gold was in the range of ₹4,000 to ₹4,500. Let’s take ₹4,200 as an example. But now, in (2024 to 2025) the price of 24- carat of gold is in the range of ₹70,000 to ₹72,000. Let’s take ₹71,000 as an example. So the simple numerical increase is from ₹4,200 to ₹71,000 is a huge jump!
The gold you could buy for ₹4,200 in the early 90s needed to be worth roughly ₹70,000 to ₹85,000 in today’s money just to maintain its real value. Today, that amount of gold is actually selling for around ₹71,000.
What is GEN’Z takes on inflation vs work:
Here we study about how young generation like GEN’Z think about inflation and work.
- What GEN’Z sees with inflation: They’ve entered adulthood during a time when prices for many things – rent, food, petrol, even going out – have gone up. They see how expensive it is to buy a house or car. It feels like the money they earn is not enough to buy such big things.
- What Gen Z Often Wants from Work: They wants a good pay for their jobs in order to meet their expenses and avoid working overtime and love to spend time on other things like movies with friends, dating, partying.
- Work-life balance: They don’t necessarily want to work non-stop. They want to work on fixed hours and do the work without time limits and not like working over the clock. They take more breaks as and when they feel to.
- Flexibility: They love options like working from home where they don’t need to dress and go to work, travelling and standing in queues for long hours and want to save that time doing other things.
- Purpose: They want their job to feel meaningful and not just doing same repeated work. They often change job quickly and don’t love the concept of loyalty working with same people for years in the same old company as they prefer money and change than stability and lower increments.
Conclusion: In the end, we may conclude that inflation has changed a lot. If we compare inflation in 1990s and now, then we see there are various changes. The salaries are getting lower compared to things, like buying gold jewellery is getting out of reach of middle class people and poor can only dream of. Also the young generation prefer to rent than buying a new home.