Decoding the rural labyrinth

The 7th Edition of the ET Rural Strategy Summit 2019 held on 13th December 2019 in New Delhi, saw leading stakeholders and experts who shared their experiences on planning and implementation of rural development initiatives.

India’s total consumption expenditure is expected to grow to $5.7 trillion by 2030. This brings forth an explosion of opportunity for businesses in both rural and urban sectors. However, India’s rural market is distinct from the urban markets. At the same time, the rural market can be segregated into two parts – “developed rural” and the “rest of rural India”. These facts emphasize upon adopting new marketing strategies and giving more attention to the nation’s sprawling rural markets. India’s marketers need to develop cutting insights to understand the psyche of rural consumers to explore this rural goldmine in the waiting.

The Summit brought together leaders, marketers, and all other stakeholders to deliberate upon creating successful rural strategies. Marketers learned how to better cater to rural consumers across the length and breadth of this vast country. The summit demystified the market dynamics of the rural markets to explore the significant opportunities that are yet to be unhidden.

Talking about the changing consumer behaviour in rural areas, Dinesh D Dasani, VP – Replacement Sales, JK Tyres, said, “There are more organized sores coming up in rural India. The rural consumers are consuming packaged food. The categories like noodle and pasta are finding ways in rural shops.”

The Summit coincided with the timing when a lot of happening on the rural front. The Govt. of India is focusing a lot to uplift the rural economy. It is estimated that rural India will be home to 240 million consumers by 2030. However, this customer base is scattered across more than 50,000 villages, and it will be challenging for any company to reach this customer base, with a convincing message. A panel of eminent speakers, at the Summit, discussed the key drivers for the growing business confidence in rural India.