Beer or book? The official mug of Oktoberfest, Munich’s beer festival, which begins on September 22

New Delhi, Sept. 11: One wears a grey suit and spouts phrases like “provisional tax liability”. The other is the young face of the new economy, often jeans-clad and happiest when promising 2 C U @ 11.

It now turns out that the chartered accountant and the BPO guy have opposite attitudes to liquor, too. If it’s a liability for one, the other would really be happy to see you at 11 — at the bar.

Some 58 per cent of IT employees love to drink while 60 per cent in the financial sector won’t touch the stuff, says a study by global consultancy firm CLSA Asia Pacific.

In keeping with their image as hard-headed men of business, however, the accountants and stockbrokers who drink go for the real stuff. Some 55 per cent of them prefer hard drinks. An equal percentage among the IT people prefer beer or wine, with only about a third plumping for whisky, rum or vodka.

“We believe that the relatively more traditional behavioural pattern among financial sector employees is (a result of) less concentration in metros and lower income profile,” said Anirudha Dutta, CLSA analyst.

Employees from both sectors were reluctant to accept a link between profession and drinking habits.

“I unwind after work with beer but some of my colleagues prefer a book or music,” said IT professional Uddalok Mukherjee.

Vikrant Sachdeva, a private bank employee, said: “Weekend and official parties include drinks. Nothing to do with a particular profession.”

Kaushik Sharma, who works for an HR consultancy, however, had an explanation. “The survey reflects an emerging BPO culture,” he said.

Sharma said late nights in office and varying shift timings left a call-centre executive with limited options for leisure. “So many BPO executives go for a drink to pubs that are open late at night.”

“Leisure is high on young executives’ priority list,” an industry observer said. “They also have the money to spend.”

This has fuelled other trends, too. Information and media company Nielsen found that half of 1,000 men it surveyed in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad visited a beauty salon at least once a month.

Three of every five single men said they tried to look stylish at all times. Colouring one’s hair was more important than a head massage, and the men were into skin care, wrinkle care and eye care, too.

One gender gap has remained, though. CLSA found that in the financial sector, 81 per cent women were teetotallers compared with 55 per cent of the men. In IT, two-thirds women did not drink while two-thirds of the men did.