Page 272 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Unit 14: Corporate Sector in Agri-Business

The rural Indian market and consumer call for sophisticated new marketing strategies and Notes
paradigms, not a transplant of old ideas.”

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

1. .................. in India is one of the most important sectors of its economy.
2. The Indian government also set up Ministry of Food Processing Industries to stimulate the
.................. sector of Indian economy and make it more lucrative.

3. India’s agricultural sector highly depends upon the monsoon season as heavy ..................
during the time leads to a rich harvest.
4. India has a geographical area of .................. million hectares.

5. India’s consumer durables market is anticipated to expand by ....................... per cent in
2011-12.
6. .................. purchasing power has grown faster than urban in the last six quarters.

7. Rural consumers are consuming more premium and convenience oriented categories that
are typical of their .................. counterparts.
8. M&M’s Shubh Labh network is spread over eight states with .................. outlets.

14.12 What Rural Means

Even as this debate continues, the term “rural” is being redefined. “‘Rural’ is difficult to define
any more,” says Bijoor of Bijoor Consults. “Typically, from an Indian census point of view, rural
has been defined with a ‘deprivation’ orientation, rural being a landmass without access to
continuous electricity, water, the stock market. There has been a correction in this view, however.
Marketers today define rural as people living a different lifestyle as opposed to that of those
who have settled in the bigger cities and towns. Rural is defined as pastoral in nature and as a
mass of people who relate their income closely to the lands they till or use to raise their cattle
and livestock. Those who possess it are rural and those who do not are urban. To that extent, in
Bangalore city, just off the old airport road, are a whole set of people who live by farming on
their lands. If you visit their homes, their lifestyles are totally rural. Similarly, there are people
who live in villages, who have access to the best of it all. These are urban folk. Rural is not a
geography; it is a mindset.”
“Definitions for rural India abound while the most convenient remains, ‘anything that is not
urban’,” says Gupta of ruralnaukri.com. Singh of IIML adds: “Rural India comprises all places
that are not urban.” This definition by exclusion for what is the much larger part of the country
has its roots in the government’s own approach. “The Census of India defines urban India,” says
Gupta of TSMG. “Urban India constitutes places with a population of more than 5,000, a population
density above 400 per square kilometer, all statutory towns, that is, all places with a municipal
corporation, municipal board, cantonment board, notified area council, etc. and with 75% of the
male working population engaged in non-agricultural employment. All non-urban is rural.”
Such definitions leave marketers cold. “The traditional definition of rural may be of little use to
marketers in terms of providing consumer insights,” says S. Ramesh Kumar, professor of
marketing at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB). “Given the diversity of
culture and lifestyle/aspirational changes that are taking place across non-metro consumers,
the non-metro areas need to be segmented into tiers of varying urban orientation using
psychographic and lifestyle analysis along with demographics. The digital 1 or 0 type of urban

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