Where does the body odor thing come from?

I'm not denying that it's a thing-- I feel like I've heard it enough and from reputable enough sources that there must be truth to it, even if it is often overblown.

What I don't understand is what's causing the issue itself, because it doesn't align at all with the stereotypes I had as a kid about Indian people.

A little story-time to illustrate my point:

I grew up in the UAE and went to an Indian-only school (that's a thing in the Gulf). This incident happened when we were in 4th grade, I think. 30 to 35 students in my class at the time.

I don't remember what exactly we were learning about-- something about the human body-- but showering/bathing came up, and our science teacher asked if there was anybody in the class *didn't* shower before coming to school.

Literally only two students raised their hands. She asked them why-- one said he bathed rather than showering. Fine. The other one said he showered after school.

So one kid in a class of over 30 said he didn't shower before school, and that was only bc he did in fact take one after class. Even at hearing that, the teacher had to suppress a look of disgust so as to not make the kid feel bad.

Most of these kids (including myself) showered twice a day, or they were getting whooped/scolded. My entire extended family-- also super anal about showering. My whole life until I was 20, I basically thought that was the norm in India.

Now, to be fair, my school's student body was not a remotely representative sample of India's population. The majority of students were from certain states. But still, I thought the daily showering thing was pretty much a pan-Indian thing.

So what gives? What am I missing in my understanding of the hygiene habits of Indian people? Is it really virtually *all* down to deodorant usage?