My view of the ideal shot for a beginner or someone who grew up on HMV/Philips equipment and wants to dig deeper:
(1) Get a Technics Direct Drive turntable, prefer the manual or semi-automatic ones. Finding one in good condition is difficult hence don't be impatient. A quick kill will often lead to heartbreak. Never go by glossy looks and high prices. There are lots of sellers out there who polish stuff and sell them as New Old Stock. Also there are some sellers pitch fully serviced vintage turntables. Be cautious as in the turntable world in India, fully refurbished or serviced means, cleaning up the deck, putting some oil here and there and making it run. This is not really a restoration job and in most cases substitute or non-standard parts are used. Cutting to the chase, its better to consult with or forum members or better still, take someone who knows his stuff, with you when you are going out to buy.
((2) Go for a decent moving magnetic cartridge. Again this choice depends on some factors. You'd need to have an amplifier with a moving magnet phono stage to use it. There are many models out there with exotic pricing especially in the Indian market but a quick search online and a few dollars can get you to good entry level stuff. Brands like Audio Technica, Shure, Ortofone make quality products in this category (Shure has since discontinued cart manufacturing)
(3) Get a decent 2 channel amp - here I am very biased by recommending NAD. The older NADs have inbuilt phonostages which are very good
(4) A decent pair of speakers to go with the amplifier
(5) Some good records (condition wise)
If your collection includes older records, especially ones which have been procured pre-used, a Technics turntable with the S-Shaped tonearm with a Shure M44-7 cart will enable a lot of enjoyment. This combination can track almost any record.