The SEC Classification is a classification of households used by surveyors

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

, market research

Market research

Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...

ers, media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 and marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 companies in India to categorize consumer behavior. Originally developed by IMRB International

IMRB International

IMRB International is a multi-country market research, survey and business consultancy firm that offers a range of syndicated data and customized research services...

 as a way of understanding market segment

Market segment

Market segmentation is a concept in economics and marketing. A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations with one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function...

s, 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
  Urban area
  An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
  
   SEC Grid, which uses Education
  Literacy
  Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
  
   levels and Occupation
  Occupation
  Occupation may refer to:*Job , a regular activity performed for payment, that occupies one's time**Employment, a person under service of another by hire**Career, a course through life**Profession, a vocation founded upon specialized training...
  
  al 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
  Rural
  Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
  
   SEC Grid, which uses Education
  Literacy
  Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
  
   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.

Urban SEC Grid

	Illiterate	School up to 4 years	School 5–9 years	SSC/HSC	Some college but not graduate	Graduate/Postgraduate general	Graduate/Post Graduate professional
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 employees	D	C	B2	B1	A2	A2	A1
Businessmen with 1-9 employees	C	B2	B2	B1	A2	A1	A1
Businessmen with 10+ employees	B1	B1	A2	A2	A1	A1	A1
Self Employeed professional	D	D	D	B2	B1	A2	A1
Clerical/Salesman	D	D	D	C	B2	B1	B1
Supervisory Level	D	D	C	C	B2	B1	A2
Officers/Executives-Junior	C	C	C	B2	B1	A2	A2
Officers/Executives-Mid/Senior	B1	B1	B1	B1	A2	A1	A1

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.