Popularly known as the father of rural marketing in India, PradeepKashyap has been a catalyst in single handedly paving the way for marketers into uncharted and remote Indian geographies. He has previously chaired the position of President at Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI)and is the founder and head at ‘Mart’, which was based on ethical and spiritual principles and has since emerged as India’s leading rural consultancy organization.
Addressing a congregation of event professionals,Kashyap reveals some hard-hitting facts about our rural hinterland and outlines the imminent at EEMAGINE 2015- the national convention of the event and experiential industry held annually which brings together thought leaders and experts to speak about industry trends and the way forward.
He claims, “Today 22% of the rural population is salaried. Since people have moved from wage employment to regular salaries, the purchasing power has sky rocketed. Rural wages have gone up 50% between 2008 and 2013 and hence the bottom of the pyramid is fast taking the shape of a diamond. The penetration and consumption is much higher in Rural India. Eg 75% of the urban population uses toothpaste whereas in rural India it is 45%. So if the usage in rural areas was to go up to 75%, Colgate would have to set up another factory because the population in rural India is three times that of urban, making it a magic multiplier.”
He continues, “Where the earlier trend in rural India was to purchase regional brands, people are increasingly buying national brands like P&G and Unilever. Instead of purchasing small packs such as shampoo sachets they are now inclined towards purchasing mega and value packs simply because they have more monies in their pockets and are looking out for better bargains, just like urban folks. They are increasingly buying packaged goods in contrast to the trend of buying loose, as they suspect loose goods could be stale whereas the date of manufacturing on branded products puts this doubt to rest.” He exclaims, “it has become difficult to identify a tailor in a village today as people are increasingly buying readymade garments made by regional brands.”
The growth of urban India has been fast but year 2009 onwards, rural India has started growing faster.“Rural is the flavor of the coming decade”, says Kashyap. He explains, “It has grown at the rate of 17% whereas urban growth has been reported at 12%. The per capita income of rural India used to be 50% of the per capita income of urban India, but this has changed dramatically over the last few years. If you look at the spending patterns, the rural consumer in many ways is becoming similar to the urban consumer. Earlier the rural consumer was spending maximum on food, but now he is spending 7% of his income on health.” These changes have proven to be very beneficial for marketers because now they can see the country from largely the same lens.
The youth is increasingly more ambitious in rural India with many contesting that “they will only pick up a job that will draw them a salary more than their father’s last drawn salary”. People are becoming more vanity conscious where “women are known to be using Lux on their bodies and Dove on their faces. Because of the Swach Bharat campaign and awareness about sanitation, brands such as Harpic are widely being used”, opines Kashyap.
“Aspirations are high, so much so, that even the poorest families in rural India are spending Rs 200 to 300 per month towards English tuitions for their children in the hope that it will fetch them a job in the city”, says Kashyap. He adds, “Today, roads connecting villages to towns are world class and within half hour a person can get to the closest town and be employed. There are 100 million Internet users in rural India and Flipkart has reported more sales from rural India than from the cities.“
Opportunities are massive in rural India and the landscape is changing very dramatically, but it is not the same as working 50 cities in urban India, the deepest penetration of rural India would mean we are talking 600 thousand villages. “The challenge is that of reach, scale and spread. Sadly, there are not enough people who understand this market, not enough agencies and not enough people willing to work this field”, concludes Kashyap
