Only 14% of Indian men identify as Traditionalists, indicating a need for evolved brand messaging: Report

Masculinity in Asia is undergoing one of its most significant shifts in decades. New findings from change, VIRTUE Asia's ‘The VIRTUE Guide To Modern Masculinity’ reveal that modern men have begun challenging the expectations they grew up with, and opening up to new ways of showing care, ambition and identity. Nearly half of modern Indian men now say emotional maturity defines strength.

According to the research, today’s masculinity isn’t about conforming to a single standard, but navigating a shifting mix of ambition, vulnerability, balance, and self-expression shaped by cultural change. This presents an important moment for brands to help men navigate and express a more expansive version of modern manhood within culture in India.

Zoe Chen, strategy director at VIRTUE Asia, said, “Masculinity in Asia is no longer a single story. Men are negotiating between tradition and self-expression, experimenting with who they are, how they care, and what success means. Our research shows this is less about rejecting the past and more about remixing it. The next generation of men is defining masculinity as a spectrum, not a template. Strength now sits alongside empathy, presence alongside performance, and identity alongside experimentation.”

Developed with global market research and data analytics company Milieu Insight and strategic insights practice Canvas8, pulls back the curtain on a regional identity shift, blending a 300-man survey across Thailand, Indonesia and India, with stimulus-led conversations capturing how men respond to emerging narratives of masculinity.  Grounded in behavioural signals across culture, media, influencers, and campaigns, the study uncovers three emerging codes reshaping identity for modern men in India. It also focuses on specific markets with their nuances, including India.

Code 1: The Multiverse of Men

The era of one-size-fits-all masculinity is over. Across Asia, men are navigating a tug-of-war between the scripts they inherited and the identities they are now free to explore. From global idols to hyper-local creators, culture is multiplying the models of progressive manhood available and allowing men to remix tradition with modernity in ways that feel authentic, personal, and proudly individual.

The research shows 66% of modern men in India are ‘Remixers’, adapting traditional norms to fit their realities, while 18% are ‘Experimenters’, comfortable stepping beyond convention. 14% remain ‘Traditionalists’ who hold onto established values, and 3% are ‘Outliers’ rejecting gender labels entirely.

For brands that once championed a single masculine ideal, the opportunity now is to reflect the full ensemble. That means designing products, campaigns, and experiences that recognise men as plural, evolving, and self-authored, creating space for them to explore, co-create, and express who they’re becoming.

Code 2: The New Male Currency

Success once meant control over wealth, work, and the world around them, but that scoreboard is shifting. Today, achievement is measured less by hard power, dominance and control; and more by soft power, by how men lead, care, and connect. The old markers of power still linger, but they’re being rewritten in real time.

The research highlights traditional success markers like being the primary breadwinner (39%), owning wealth (44%), are giving way to more human moments, such as emotional maturity (49%) and open-mindedness (43%) in India, for modern men.

This means brands need to recognise the shift from hard power to soft power. Instead of glorifying balance, brands can humanise it. Men don’t need more ideals to live up to; they need room to breathe.

Code 3: The New Love Languages

For generations, men were taught to express love through duty, to provide and protect rather than to feel and connect. As fatherhood, partnerships and friendships develop, love is being redefined as emotional presence and shared responsibility. Men are learning that love demands accountability: the courage to be present, to care out loud, and to build connection through shared emotional labour.

The research finds action of care as the most popular love language, with a focus on building futures as a team. Making room for decision-making and caring for others is a critical shift for India.

Brands can play a role in supporting this by helping men express their new love languages in more grounded, collaborative, and consistent ways. By framing care as something built together, rather than carried alone, brands can turn emotional awareness into action, helping men move from intention to practice and making reliability, empathy, and accountability visible and achievable.

Saumya Baijal, EVP Strategy, VIRTUE India, adds, “The shifts in modern masculinity are critical and tectonic. It is up to brands now to shape these cultural shifts with audiences by nudging them towards more progressive, modern stances. Brands will need to be brave enough to do so, owning narratives as they build them”.