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Pu b l i s h ed b y : S o u th As i a n Aca d e m i c Re s ea r ch J o u rn a l s

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South Asian Journal of Marketing & Management Research RETAILING IN RURAL INDIA: AN OVERVIEW OF MARKETS AND OPPORTUNITIES
DR.RAJESH KESARI*; ABHISHEK KUMAR SRIVASTAVA** *Associate Professor, Director & Head, Faculty of Management & Commerce, Nehru Gram Bharti University, Jamunipur, Kotwa, Allahabad, India. **Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Nehru Gram Bharti University, Jamunipur, Kotwa, Allahabad, India. ABSTRACT A debate continued for a long time amongst the Indian marketers, both practitioners & academicians, on the justification for the existence of the distinct discipline of rural marketing. Consequently, two schools of thought emerged. The first school belived that the products/services, marketing tools & strategies that are successful in urban areas, could be transplanted with little or no more modifications in rural areas. However, the second school saw a clear distinction between urban & rural India, & suggested a different approach, skills, tools & strategies to be successful in rural markets. With a population already in excess of one billion people, India has caught the eye of multinational corporations across the globe as a place of opportunity for exploring new markets. Hub and spoke model involving engagement with farmers in rural India. A rural shopping mall where farmers can sell their commodities and can buy almost everything including cosmetics, garments, electronics, appliances and even tractors. It serves as an agri-sourcing centers, shopping centers, and facilitation centers KEYWORDS: Rural Retailing, Urban & Rural India, Retailing Services, Market. ______________________________________________________________________________

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INTRODUCTION

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about his vision for rural India: "My vision of rural India is of a modern agrarian, industrial and services economy co-existing side by side, where people can live in well-equipped villages and commute easily to work, be it on the farm or in the non-farm economy. There is much that modern science and technology can do to realize this vision. Rural incomes have to be increased. Rural infrastructure has to be improved. Rural health and education needs have to be met. Employment opportunities have to be created in rural areas." Indias rural markets offer a sea of an opportunity for the Retail sector. The urban-rural split in consumer spending stands at 9:11, with rural India accounting for 55 per cent of private retail consumption. Currently the Indian retail market is estimated at Rs.1,330,000 crore, and almost half of this growing retail market at present lies in rural India, which is a tremendous growth sector that needs to be tapped with care. According to National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) reports, rural India is home to 720 million consumers across 627,000 villages. Seventeen per cent of these villages account for 50 per cent of the rural population as well as 60 per cent of rural wealth. This implies that reaching out to just 100,000 plus villages will ensure access to most of the rural opportunity. The urban market undoubtedly continues to grow but with most of the retail initiatives concentrated in the metropolitan and Tier-I and Tier-II cities, these markets are fast getting saturated. Realising this, most of the big retail companies have started targeting the Tier-III cities and the rural towns to spur their growth. The bottom of the pyramid market is for sure now looking attractive for companies wanting to explore new turf. Hariyali Kisan Bazaars (DCM) and Aadhars (Pantaloon-Godrej JV) have already set up rural retail hubs, Choupal Sagars (ITC) has done the same and so have Kisan Sansars (Tata ), Reliance Fresh, and others like the Naya Yug Bazaar. More and more Indian business houses are planning to make a foray into rural markets while some of them are going to implement the organized retailing model. Keeping in view the development indicators, potentialities are immense. There are inherent problems in the way products and services are retailed in rural India. RURAL MARKETING IN INDIA In a market where life has revolved around deep rooted community values, joint families, and social customs and taboos (women, for example, are not allowed to wear trousers), marketers realize that the traditional routes of market entry and brand building employed in urban India are often not feasible. As Adi Godrej, Chairman of the Godrej Group, says, The challenge [for brands] is to understand the [psyche] of the rural consumer, create better distribution, and [appreciate] the heterogeneity.

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The Indian growth story is now spreading itself to India's hinterlands. The rural consumer market, which grew 25 per cent in 2008, is expected to reach US$ 425 billion in 2010-11 with 720-790 million customers, according to a white paper prepared by CII-Technopak, in November 2009. The figures are expected to double the 2004-05 market size of US$ 220 billion. The Union Budget for 2010-11 has hiked the allocation under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to US$ 8.71 billion in 2010-11, giving a boost to the rural economy. Rural marketing is confused with agricultural marketing. "The future lies with those companies who see the poor as their customers." -C. K. Prahalad

Today, rural market occupies a larger part of our economy and it is expected to grow at least four times the existing size. Another contributing factor for rural push was growing saturation in urban markets. OBJECTIVE OR MYTHOLOGY TO BE PRECISE, RURAL MARKETING IN INDIAN ECONOMY COVERS TWO BROAD SECTIONS 1. Selling of agricultural products in the urban areas 2. Selling of manufactured products in the rural regions In present situation, our huge population is helping marketers to think new marketing strategies. 630 Billion rural populations are greater than total consuming markets of many countries like Canada, South Korea, etc. WHAT IS RETAILING? The word "Retail" originates from a French-Italian word. Retailer-someone who cuts off or sheds a small piece from something. Retailing is the set of activities that markets products or services to final consumers for their own personal or household use. It does this by organizing their availability on a relatively large scale and supplying them to customers on a relatively small scale. For a retailer it is essential to see in which segment it is catering in the above division of villages. For example Shakti caters to villages with a population of 500 or above. Where in Eveready considers even the remotest of village as its target customer. It operates through more than thousand company-owned vans and has over 4,000 distributors to directly providing service to 6,00,000 retail outlets. South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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RURAL RETAILING

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With several states in the country permitting retailers to purchase produce directly from farmers, the farmers too are adapting to the new opportunity to cultivate assigned crops and take special care of the same. This gets them instant credit at higher prices than what they received from the erstwhile traders/middlemen. Corporate retailers like ITC, Godrej, Reliance, AV Birla and many others have already established the farm linkages. Indian farmers are finally making good money, after centuries of social and economic exploitation. The Indian government too has chipped in with a massive loan waiver worth Rs.60,000 crore to lighten the farmers debt burden. RURAL V/S URBAN CONSUMER Rural Consumers are heterogeneity in nature(Rural specific and Region specific) whereas Urban Consumers are homogenous in nature. Rural bias: Nearly two thirds of the stores are located in rural areas. Rural retail industry has typically two forms: "Haats" and Melas". Haats are the weekly markets : serve groups of 10-50 villages and sell day-to-day necessities. Melas are larger in size and more sophisticated in terms of the goods sold (like TVs). ROLE OF RURAL RETAILING Retailing is the final phase of the distribution channel and it is clear by now that it is availability and distribution that drives growth in rural Indian markets. Hence retailing will be significant and will undergo greater organisation and maturity as is being witnessed in the urban markets, even in the rural markets. Innovative retail models which take into account the nuances of rural markets is the way forward. Study on buying behaviour of rural consumer indicates that the rural retailers influences 35% of purchase decisions. Therefore sheer product availability can affect decision of brand choice, volumes and market share. India offers a huge, sustainable and growing rural market which can be tapped effectively through innovative distribution channels with retailing being the most critical element of this strategy as it is the final touch point and the actual touch point with the customer which can be the most critical influence in the buying process. ORGANIZED RETAIL IN RURAL INDIA The retail sector in India is witnessing a huge change in its retail industry as traditional markets make way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. In this project an attempt has being made to understand the current scenario of the organized retail sector in India and the future challenges as well as the opportunities for the Indian retail sector. The challenges are such as opening of the multi brand retail to foreign players, who are at present only allowed to invest in single brand retail up to 51% and 100% in wholesale retail through FDI and also the threat possessed by foreign players such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco because it is often said that emergence of this player changes the entire game of retail in the country. It would be challenging for the Indian players to grow in the market and grasp the hold on the consumers to bring them up shopping to their store. The history of Indian retail sector South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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TRADITIONAL RURAL RETAIL FAIRS Traditional family run convenience stores are too well established in India than to be wiped out and besides there isuniqueness in the traditional items that represent the sub-continent. Theretail stores in India are essentially dominated by the unorganized sector or traditional stores. Infact the traditional stores have taken up 98 percent of the Indian retail market. Now stores run by families are primarily food based and the set up is as Kirana or the 'corner grocer' stores. Basically they provide high service with low prices. If the stores are not food based then the type of retail items available are local in nature. Traditional rural retail fairs in India deal in a good number of handcrafts items which are mentioned below: Hand painted wooden chest drawers Wooden wall brackets Embossed wooden table. RURAL CONSUMER INSIGHTS RURAL INDIA BUYS * Products more often (mostly weekly) ; * Buys small packs, low unit price more important than economy ; * In rural India, brands rarely fight with each other; they just have to be present at the right place; * Many brands are building strong rural base without much advertising support, like Shampoos, detergent etc. * Fewer brand choices in rural areas; number of FMCG brands in rural areas is half that of urban. * Buys value for money, not cheap products EXPOSURE OF RURAL MARKETS IN INDIA * 630 million people; * According to a study by the Chennai-based Francis Kanoi Marketing Planning Services, estimated annual size of market is FMCG Consumer Durables Agri Inputs (e.g., Tractors) 2/4 Wheelers Total Rs. 65,000 Crore Rs. 5000 Crore Rs. 45,000 Crore Rs. 8,000 crore Rs. 1,23,000 Crore South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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* In 2001-02, LIC sold 55% of its policies in rural India. * Of the two million BSNL mobile connections, 50% are in small towns / villages. * Of the six lakh villages, 5.22 lakh have a Village Public Telephone (VPT). * 42 million rural households are availing banking services in comparison to 27 million urban households. * Investment in formal savings instruments: 6.6 millions households in rural and 6.7 million in urban India. A national strategy in rural marketing and help them in executing it across different regions. Corporates are still apprehensive to "Go Rural." The rural market is growing at a far greater speed than its urban counterpart. The journey of markets to the rural markets has indeed been one of surmounting one hurdle after another; these include the 4 As - Availability, Affordability, Acceptance & Awareness - adopting themselves to the rural atmosphere marketers IMPORTANCE OF RURAL MARKET * LARGE POPULATION: Approximately 75% of India's population resides in around 6,38,365 villages of India spread over 32 lakh square kilometer. 41% of India's middle class resides in rural areas. ; * HIGHER PURCHASING CAPACITY: Purchasing power of rural people is on rise; * MARKET GROWTH: Market is growing at a rate of 3-4% per annum According to a study by the Chennai-based Francis Kanoi Marketing Planning Services, estimated annual size of market is LOW PENETRATION OPPORTUNITIES Durables RATES IN RURAL MARKETS FACILITATES

Urban

Rural

Total (%of rural House hold )

Colour TV Refrigerator

30.4 33.5

4.8 3.5

12.1 12

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FMCGs

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(%of rural House hold )

Shampoo Toothpaste

66.3 82.2

35.2 44.9

44.2 55.6

* According to a study by the Chennai-based Francis Kanoi Marketing Planning Services, estimated annual size of market is FMCG Consumer Durables Agri Inputs (e.g., Tractors) 2/4 Wheelers Total Rs. 65,000 Crore Rs. 5000 Crore Rs. 45,000 Crore Rs. 8,000 crore Rs. 1,23,000 Crore

ITC chairman Yogi Deveshwar has promised his shareholders that the company would open 1,000 rural malls in India. This is the first one to have come up. RURAL INDIA PROMISES RETAIL GROWTH There may be a slowdown in urban retail, but 'Bharat' is still shining for retailers . The next phase of growth is expected to come from rural markets with rural India accounting for almost half of the domestic retail market, valued over $300 billion.Rural India is set to witness an economic boom, with per capita income having grown by 50% over the 10 years, mainly on account of rising commodity prices andimproved productivity. Development of basic infrastructure, generation of employment guarantee schemes, better information services and access to funding are also bringing prosperity to rural households. "Overall there is a huge market which is waiting to be served, ready to splurge, willing to explore new products and services, and retailers can tap on their wallets," said Ramesh Srinivas, national industry director (consumer markets), KPMG India ENABLERS FOR GROWTH IN RURAL RETAIL Rural India will see the consumption growth on per household basis. It will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.1% during next two decades and will reach todays urban South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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level till 2017. This also depicts the change in consumption basket of rural consumers over a period of time. This means that rural retailers will have to constantly work on their merchandise mix with the increasing purchasing power of the rural households.

(FIGURE 1) South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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According to MGI forecast Rural market will nearly triple till 2025 creating a vast potential of $577bn. With the increase in income rural population will spend increasingly on other products then spending on food. Bharat Nirman Plan would provide rural infrastructure at a rapid growth between 2005 and 2009. This would help organized retailers. Three important contributors for the decline in rural poverty are: 1. Government Investment: Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Bharat Nirman Plan 2. Diversification of rural economy 3. Improvements within agriculture sectors. Average annual household incomes will increase at a rate of 3.6% in next two decades will lead to shift of significant number of households from the deprived to the aspirer income bracket. MODELS IN RURAL RETAILING 1. HARIYALI KISAAN BAZAAR MODEL DSCL backed by years of experience in the agribusiness, has implemented a one of a kind rural retailing initiative, the Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar rural departmental stores, to provide single-point solution to the diverse needs of the contemporary Indian farmer. Each store covers an area of 3-4 acres and is managed by a team of 7-8 people whom the Company trains continuously. The total number of Hariyali outlets stood at 101 as of 30th Sep, 2007, which DSCL plans to expand to 250-300 outlets by the end of FY 2008-09 2. AADHAAR MODEL Godrej Aadhaar is the agri services cum retail initiative of Godrej Agrovet Ltd. It is a complete solution provider for the Indian farmers and provides professional guidance with an objective to improve productivity, higher returns and improved cost benefit ratio. The services offered are crop advisory services, soil & water testing services; buy back of output, crop finance, supply of agri inputs and animal feeds, transfer of information (weather, price, and demand supply), door delivery of products etc. While, the venture begun by offering agri solutions to the farmers, based on their feedback, it has over the last few months diversified into offering a number of other product categories like durables, FMCG, apparels, footwear etc, thus catering to the complete requirement of the rural household A one stop shop for Rural India.

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3. PROJECT SHAKTI MODEL HUL launched Project Shakti in the year 2001, in keeping with the purpose of integrating business interests with national interests The model was piloted in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh in 50 villages in the year 2000. The Government of Andhra Pradesh took the pioneering step of supporting the initiative by enabling linkages with the network of DWACRA Groups of rural women set up for their development and self-employment. Most SHG women view Project Shakti as a powerful business proposition and are keen participants in it. It has since been extended to in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal with the total strength of over 39,880 Shakti Entrepreneurs 4.RURAL MALLS: CHAUPAL SAGAR Chaupal Sagar is one of the first organised retail forays into the hinterland. It was soft-launched on 15 August. It is actually a warehouse for storing the farm produce that ITC buys through its echaupals. The mall has come up in one part of this warehouse.It has been set up by the international business division of tobacco major ITC. It has been initiated as rural shopping-cuminformation centres in Madhya Pradesh. The first rural mall has come up 40-odd kilometres journey from Bhopal towards Sehore. ITC Spent 3 years and Rs.80 crores on research and development of this concept including investments in E-choupal BUSINESS MODEL The business model of Chaupal Sagar is linked closely with the E-chaupal initiative of ITC. Role of ITC is to create infrastructure such as space, computers, and building. ITC will charge a fee for the services and items sold at the mall.

E-CHAUPAL: E-Chaupal is the backbone of these rural malls. While the first layer (E-Chaupal) provides the farmers necessary information about weather and prices, this hypermarket initiative will provide them another platform to sell their produce and purchase necessary farm and household goods under the same roof.

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(FIGURE-2) The e-Choupal model required that ITC to make significant investments to create and maintain its own IT network in rural India and to identify and train a local farmer to manage each eChoupal. E-Choupal combines a Web portal in the local language and PCs with Internet access placed in the villages to create a two-way channel between ITC and the villagers. The project started with a pilot in June 2000 in Madhya Pradesh with Soybean farmers. Currently, it covers six states, and multiple commodities like prawns, cotton and coffee with 4000 Choupals. The rural mall sells everything from fertilisers and hair oil to mixer-grinders and tractors. HLL-SHG BUSINESS MODEL Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) India's largest consumer goods company has a large distribution network comprising 5,000 re-distribution stockists and 40 C&FAs (Clearing and Forwarding Agent). Yet this network covers only 75,000 villages directly out of the uretotal 6,00,000 villages in India. A tie up with SHGs can take HLL products to many more villages directly.

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Trading opportunities with stable companies with established rural brands (Lifebuoy, Lux, Wheel, Clinic and 3 Roses tea etc) could be a boon to women members of SHGs. HOW DOES IT WORK? A pilot project (christened Project Shakti) was launched in Nalgonda in December 2000 in a small cluster of 50 villages with 50 SHGs and 3 MACTS (Mutually Aided Co-operative Thrift Society, a federation of around 20 SHGs). There are 3 partners and their roles are: MACTS/SHGs: sell/retail HLL products HLL: supplies products, provides marketing and promotion support MART: facilitates the process, provides business training inputs

NEW DISTRIBUTION MODEL (FIGURE-3) South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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INFORMATION FLOW (FIGURE-4) CAPACITY BUILDING OF MACTS AND SHGS Achievement Motivation Training programmes have been conducted to create a desire among women for starting their own business. Formal training of group leaders and other members have been conducted to help them become successful entrepreneurs. Level 1: Basic orientation to HLL business and brands. Level 2: Enterprise management and marketing. Animators have been appointed (stipend paid by HLL) to promote sale. 'Shakti Day', an artificially created market place in the village with specially devised communication kits is conducted regularly where special discounts and schemes are offered to increase sale. REGULATIONS AND POLICIES FOR THE RURAL RETAIL 1. APMC 2. Essential commodity act: The fertilizer industry is centrally regulated by the government through an administered pricing mechanism & sales allocation under Essential Commodities Act (ECA). In the year 2002-03, the government announced a long term Pricing policy for urea. 3. Indian Land Acquisition Act 1894 4. Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) ACT, 1976 South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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5. Agricultural Produce (Grading & Marking) ACT, 1937 (ACT No. 1 of 1937) (as amended up to 1986) 6. Non Agricultural Use Clearance 7. Under PN4/2006 100% FDI is allowed through the automatic route in - Floriculture, Horticulture, Development of Seeds, Animal Husbandry, Pisciculture, aqua-culture, cultivation of vegetables,, mushrooms, under controlled conditions and services related to agro and allied sectors 8. Intra state agricultural land taxes vary, prompting the current finance minister to moot for a common GST (Goods and services tax) which would help in bringing all the various state taxes under a common fold including the agricultural income taxes levied individually state to state. IMPEDIMENTS Lack of literacy and awareness Low per capita income Wide geographic spread. Gaps in road and Telecommunications connectivity. Lack of reliable electricity and water supply Limited Distribution network for example cold storage. Competition from local players RECOMMENDATIONS Integration of rural initiatives into business model like ITC Corporate should supplement government efforts & resources (infrastructure development, education system, storage) Creating retail stores which should be rural in nature so that the ruralmasses identify themselves with these stores. Innovative & Exciting Initiatives such as Village BPO should be given impetus to tap the talent in the rural India. QUANTUM JUMP IN RURAL RETAIL OUTLETS In India for a long time a large chunk of retail outlets were grocery shop. This pattern had been changing in recent years, in urban and rural markets. South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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Of late, India's largely rural population has also caught the eye of retailers looking for new areas of growth. A slew of supermarket chains, including those of the Tata and ITC, are set to storm the rural areas of the country as corporate realize the huge potential of the untapped market ITC launched the country's first rural mall 'Chaupal Sagar', offering a diverse product range from FMCG to electronic appliances to automobiles, attempting to provide farmers a one-stop destination for all of their needs. Companies such as Godrej and DCM Shriram Consolidated are launching `one-stop shops' for farmers and their communities. Godrej Agrovet, for instance, is planning to set up 1,000 Aadhar stores across rural India by 2010. DCM Shriram plans to set up 35 rural/semi-urban utility marts over 2006-07. Positioned as a one-stop shop, the Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar Chain will cater to a variety of farmers' needs by providing access to retail banking, LPG outlets and even a motorcycle showroom. "As rural retail does not have any benchmarks to follow, we have to keep innovating. Like all retail formats, rural retail also had a slowdown and is now looking at focusing on making its individual formats work. With improvement in the market sentiment after a satisfactory rabi season in 2009, we expect the markets to improve," According to a CII-Technopak study on rural retail, the biggest bottleneck towards development in the rural markets is excessive dependence on agriculture and, consequently, on rainfall. There is overall slowdown of GDP growth every time there is poor rainfall. The rural consumer is unique and it requires long painstaking efforts to understand, relate to and be accepted by him. Rural marketing involves more intensive personal selling efforts compared to urban marketing. MYTH ABOUT RURAL MARKET MYTH#1: Rural income is mainly agricultural income and thus not certain: oRural occupation is not such a finite demographic. It changes throughout the year. Also, let us examine where rural income comes from. In 1980, two-thirds of rural income was farm income while one-third was non-farm income. By 2012, NCAER estimates that the situation will be exactly the reverse. In 2007, by NCAER estimates, the split was about 40:60 41% being the farm income! oAccording to CMIE data, in FY03, despite the monsoons being erratic, India Inc managed to grow at 5.8 per cent with agricultural GDP and IIP (index of industrial production) also growing at a robust pace. MYTH#2: Rural consumers lack purchasing power: o While the rural consumer is generally seen as less affluent than his urban cousin, things are changing fast. o According to NSSO report no. 527, there was little difference between rural and urban households in the share of the budget allocated to fuel and light (10% for rural, 9% for urban) and clothing, including bedding and footwear (7% for rural, 6% for urban) oWhile in 1998-99 South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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over 83% of rural households fell in the lower and lower middle classes, the number has fallen to 70% in 2006-07; the comparative fall for urban India is from 53% to 27% [NCAER data]. And if experts are to be believed, the number is set to fall at a rapid rate over the next 20 years. o In 1990, for every $100 earned by a person residing in a rural area, a person in an urban area earned approx. $182.Today, this gap has been reduced to $56. MYTH#3: Decision maker in rural household is the male of the family: o The power distance between the chief wage earner male and the housewife- female, is rapidly decreasing in rural households. o It is assumed that Rural India is still symbolic of some erstwhile male dominated Indian society and females dont have a say. Though the primary decision maker in the rural family is thought to be the male, he is seldom in the household actually. Mass migration of men seeking employment in urban areas has become such a phenomenon that most immediate purchase decision, especially in categories that do not require savings to be spent are taken by females only. MYTH#4: Fear of technology: oAdoption of technology in rural areas is faster than we imagine : o Growth in rural teledensity has outpaced urban consistently in this decade. From Mar 07 to Sept 08, rural teledensity increased by 120% while growth in urban teledensity grew by 53% only (TRAI data). For the quarter ending Sept 08, net additions to wireless connections in rural areas were more than twice than in urban areas (19.93 million vs. 8.51 million). Growth for this period in rural was 28% compared to 4% in urban. o Also, growth of PC penetration at home in 2008 in rural areas is 24% compared to 7% in urban areas. CONCLUSION With an approximate population of 700 million people, the rural Indian market is important for multinational corporations to tap. Although rural Indians need to purchase consumer goods just as their Western counterparts do, rural Indian consumers have a different set of needs that must be met by both package and product. Spending time researching the rural Indian consumer as well as the market before diving in can help to prevent unnecessary struggles and failures. If the opportunity exists, partnering with an existing Indian company upon market entry can provide several key advantages to a company. Understanding the available distribution networks in rural India is crucial to making a successful entry into the rural Indian market. Packages need to be designed to withstand more distribution abuse due to poor roads and more primitive modes of transportation. Finally, when creating a package for ruralIndia, small sizes allow consumers to try new products. It also caters to the factthat most rural Indians have low disposable incomes and little storage space at home. By applying these lessons that have been learned from South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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multinational corporations in the past, the task of entering the rural Indian market should be promising. Rural Retailing in India Given that an overwhelming majority of India\'s population lives in rural areas, retailers are fast penetrating rural india. Rural india is experiencing the same changes as urban india - changing consumer preferences and consumption patterns, increasing exposure to different lifestyles and products, and increasing purchasing power.The retail sector has played a phenomenal role throughout the world in increasing productivity of consumer goods and services. REFERENCES 1. Ravindranath, V. Badi & Naranyansa V. Badi,(2004) Rural Marketing, Himalaya Publishing, 2. Bailay, R. (2003). Small packets, big business. Far Eastern Economic Review, 3. 166, 40. 4. Balu, R. (2001). Strategic innovation: Hindustan Lever. Fast Company, 120. 5. Bullis, D. (1997). Selling to Indias consumer market. Westport, CT: Quorum 6. Books. 7. Dawar, N. & Chattopadhyay, A. (2002). Rethinking marketing programs for 8. emerging markets. Long Range Planning, 35, 457. 9. Kannan, S. (2001). Rural market a world of opportunity. The Hindu. 10. Kripalani, M. (2002). Rural India, have a Coke. Business Week, 24. 11. Kripalani, M. (2003). Finally, Coke gets it right. Business Week, 47. 12. Luce, E. (2002). Hard sell to a billion consumers: Marketing India: The worlds 13. second most populous country is a magnet for US brands but its mar 14. ket is not easy to penetrate, says Edward Luce. Financial Times, 14. 15. Merchant, K. (2003). A salesforce for Indian villages: Marketing: Women are 16. poised to run an online direct selling portal that promises to reach the 17. smallest communities. Financial times, 9. 18. Moorthi, Y.S.R. (2002). Were like this only. Retrieved October 31, 2003, South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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19. from http://learning.indiatimes.com/bm/guruspeak/moorthi.htm. 20. Prahalad, C.K., & Lieberthal, K. (2003). The end of corporate imperialism. 21. , 81, 109-117. 22. Srivastava, Prashant. Personal Communication. October 21 and October 31, 23. 2003. 24. Michael .J. Baker, The Marketing Book , Fourth edition. Viva Books Private ltd p.p639-667. 25. Michael R. Solomon .Elnora. W Stuart, 2005 Marketing Real people, Real choices, Pearson Education, Ltd.p.p563-564. 26. SujaNair Retail Management, Himalaya Publishing House, p.p401-429. 27. Jim Dion& Ted Topping, Retailing, Jaico Publishing House, p.p127-150. 28. Swapna Pradhan, Retailing Management Text& Cases, Tata Mc Graw Hills Company p.p127-141,342-350. 29. Ramanathan V & Sudhamathi S, Icfai University Journal of Rural Management, Brand Building Exercises Adopted by Life Insurance Companies in Indian Rural Markets 30. Khan N. A ,Icfai University Journal of Rural Management; Icfai University Journal of Rural Management, Building Competitiveness in Small-Scale and Rural Industries in India 31. . Dr. N. Rajendhiran ,Icfai University Journal of Rural Management, Rural Marketing - A Critical Review ; 32. The Marketing Mastermind Case study HL(Feb.2003)- Rural Marketing Initiatives ICFAI Press, PP. 62,. 33. Jha Neeraj, (June 19, 2000)Gung-ho on rural marketing; The Financial Express 34. Bargal Hitendra, Dr. Pithadia Vijay, Promotion of Brand in Rural Market of India; indianmba.com/facultycolumn/articles. 35. www.deccanherald.com 36. www.deccanherald.com 37. www.thehindubusinessline.com South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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Volume 2, Issue 4 (April, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

38. www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/236028/indian_retail_industry_strategies_trends_a nd.pdf 39. . http://www.indiaretailing.com 40. http://www.tsmg.com/download/article/TSMG_Tata_Review-June_2006.pdf 41. . Bargal Hitendra, Dr. Pithadia Vijay, Promotion of Brand in Rural Market of India; indianmba.com/facultycolumn/articles.

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