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Publication: The Economic Times Mumbai;Date: Jul 25, 2010;Section: Front Page;Page: 1

A NEW PLOT IN FARM VILLE

Businesses are geared up to hit the countryroad for growth; this time
they’ll piggyback on the purchasing power of rural youth
Monica Behura NEW DELHI

LAST month, when a group of eight top global investors met in London to ponder over their next India strategy, all they
wanted to know was how to go ‘rural’. They had been advised by experts that the country’s hinterland was no more the
challenge that it was two decades ago, when the economy was first opened up. Prosperity in the villages was slowly starting to
outdo the scope of urban India—Bharat was blossoming into the next big opportunity.

Deutsche Bank, which facilitated the London meeting, invited Pradeep Kashyap of MART, an Indian consultancy specialising
in emerging and rural markets, to make a presentation. Kashyap told the eclectic group that all they needed to do was to tap
the village youth.

The same man had years ago helped FMCG major Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever) cocreate Project Shakti to
appoint women micro entrepreneurs among village self help groups as the company’s salespersons. He was a strong believer in
the concept of opinion makers such as the village headman or the quintessential postman to influence the villagers’ buying
decision. So, why was he now talking about the power of India’s rural youth?

Part of the reason is the success of the government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which promised 100
days of guaranteed employment with an income of 100 a day. With 43 mn new jobs (1.82 billion new mandays), the village
economy became a big draw for the village youth. Young people not only decided against migration, those who had already
migrated began returning home. At the same time, better power scenario, good connectivity with the cities and access to
communication facilities such as mobiles and satellite televisions improved not only the standard of life in far flung villages, but
also increased awareness and enhanced aspiration levels. As a result, rural spending in the last three years quadrupled to a
whopping 40,000 cr.

“The nature of the spending shows that the biggest driver of the economy is the youth. Young people are earning money,
spending on their daily chores and are still left with enough disposable incomes. All that money is going, or will go, into buying
vehicles, TVs, mobiles, FMCG products, clothes and a decent education for the next generation,” says Sujit Nair, chief
executive officer of Linterland, a rural marketing agency of Lowe Worldwide.

Take a look at the facts. The rural market already contributes more than half of FMCG and durables sales, 100% of
agri-products sales, and nearly 40% of automobile sales. In the last few years, the biggest push to India’s mobile telephony
story has come from the hinterland where 175 million connections have been sold—and this is expected to rise to 440 million by
2012. Half of life insurance policies are also sold in India’s villages.

Companies that are operating in India have already latched onto this boom. In village Shahjahanpur, 30 km off the highway
from Meerut in UP, a group of young HUL executives and rural marketing experts last week made a sales pitch to the villagers
who huddled amid thatched houses to watch a promotional video in a campaign called ‘Khusiyon ki Doli’ (palanquin of
happiness). As the women giggled, watching the films and demos, 20-year-old Jyoti Saudan stepped aside to take a call from
her husband on her mobile phone.

“A high degree of awareness facilitated by communication devices has empowered the youth in the villages. Gone are the
days when the company would approach the village headman or the postman or other opinion makers to influence buying-
decisions in the village. Now, we are creating campaigns that directly influence the youth,” says Raj Kumar Jha, national
creative director of Ogilvy Action, a rural marketing agency. “The money is now with the village youth and it is he/she who does
the spending,” adds Sudhanshu Vats, vice-president for home & personal care category of Hindustan Unilever.

That explains why Nokia’s campaign for the rural market says ‘Dikhao Apna Standard (show your worth)’, Bharti Airtel says

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‘Aaj Koi Akele Nahin’ (no one is alone) and Max New York Life Insurance calls its rural policies ‘Vijay’. “More than 50% of rural
youth in the age group of 25-35 years have contributed to 2.5 million value top-ups of our policies through their mobile phones,”
says Anisha Motwani, chief marketing officer of the insurance firm which has sold 93,000 ‘Vijay’ policies in the rural market.

Companies are also branding Internet café’s, movies halls and youth clubs in villages, where youth participation in local
functions especially during festivals goes up. Helping GDP growth

“AT EVERY function, we demonstrate our mobikes and register at least two sales,” says Anil Dua, chief marketing officer at
Hero Honda. Hero Honda gets 42% sales from the rural market. Seventy percent of the consumers are in the age group 25-35.

Indeed, it was this youth-led demand that helped the Indian economy post a healthy near 7% GDP growth even when the
world had slipped into the worst recession in several decades. And so, in the eyes of the investors, India’s rural youth emerged
as the Knights in shining armour. “It is an opportunity no corporate can overlook. India’s rural market is already a $0.5 trillion
market today, and it is expected to double to $1 trillion by 2020,” adds Kashyap.

monica.behura@timesgroup.com

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