BY AVILASH MOHAPATRA

2. Rural marketing is a function which manages all those activates
involved in assessing, stimulating and converting the purchasing
power into an effective demand for specific products and services, and
moving them to the people in rural area to create satisfaction and a
standard of living to them and thereby achieves the goals of the
organization.

3.  India’s vast rural market offers a huge potential for a marketer facing
stiff competition in the urban markets. The rural market environment
is very different from the familiar surroundings of the urban market.
Rural consumers have customs and behaviour that the marketer may
find difficult to contend with.

4. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently 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."

5. When rural customers discover the new and exciting choice of brands
available in urban markets, a demand for these brands is created in
rural areas. Marketers have entered the rural markets by extending
the distribution of their existing offering or developing a separate
marketing strategy for the rural markets. When Titan, the watch
manufacturer, found rural consumers purchasing their Sonata brand
of quartz watches, they formulated a marketing strategy tailored to
the requirements of the rural market.

6. • There are quite a few reasons for the growing interest in rural markets.
A very straightforward reason is the growth of these markets are :
• Untapped Potential
▫ The large number of consumers
▫ Largely untapped markets
• Market Size and Potential
• Unmet Needs/Low Penetration
• Current Consumption a Pointer to Potential
• Increasing Income and Purchasing Power
• Accessibility of Markets
• Competition in Urban Markets
• Consumer Behaviour Changes

7.  The size of rural markets, demographic profi le of the rural market
and market volume help us to draw a broad mental picture of the rural
markets. The number of villages, population and the number of
households indicates the market size. The demographic profile of the
rural market is described in terms of household size, sex distribution,
literacy levels, occupation and income.

8.  The market volume is an indication of the market attractiveness and this is
influenced by the market size and also the market profile. The large population
and increasing incomes make the rural markets an attractive proposition for
marketers. The market volume is captured by the consumption expenditure.
The ownership of consumer durables is useful in understanding market volume;
and in the case of consumer non-durables the consumption expenditure
pattern is a useful measure of market volume.

9.  The number of villages, population and number of households captures
the rural market size.
◦ Physical Coverage
 The number of villages in India is more than .64 million. The number of villages or
locations that are to be served is 124 times that of the urban markets as the number
of urban locations or towns is 5,161.

10.  The demographic profile of the rural market is captured by the
household size, sex distribution, literacy level, occupation and income.
 Literacy Rate
◦ Literacy rate is available from National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).
The rural markets have lower levels of literacy as compared to the urban
markets.

11.  The National Sample Survey (NSS), initiated in the year 1950, is a nation-wide,
large-scale, continuous survey operation conducted in the form of successive
rounds.
 The Steering Committee consisted of 8 Non-official and 8 Official members. The
Non-official members are men of eminence in either of the fields of economics,
statistics and social sciences.
 The Official Members are all senior officers of the Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation, Planning Commission and State Directorates of
Economics & Statistics. The Director General and Chief Executive Officer (DG &
CEO) of NSSO is the Convener of the Steering Committee.
 NSS is involved in three types of surveys.
◦ Socio-economic surveys
◦ Annual Survey of Industries
◦ Agricultural surveys

12.  Occupation
▫ Although majority of the rural population is employed in agriculture, yet a
large percentage of more than 30 per cent employed is in the non-
agricultural sector. Salary earners in the rural areas are a significant
group with more than 11 per cent of the head of the households as salary
earners.
 Income
▫ It is short-sighted to view rural markets as an extension of urban markets.
The issue facing the rural marketer is not of adequate consumers who can
afford what the urban market consumes. The situation, instead, requires
the marketer to identify and reach out to consumers with offers that meet
variations in their ability to purchase.

14.  Rural consumers exhibit a skewed use of consumer durables possibly
reflecting the lack of suitability of the current products available in the
market. The rural consumers require products suited to their needs.
Rewards await the marketer willing to invest in understanding their
needs and translating them into products and services.

15.  A barrier to adoption of a number of consumer durable goods that
require electricity to operate, is the lack of electricity in many rural
households. Thirty-seven per cent of the rural-urban difference in the
penetration levels for consumer durable products is explained by the
lack of the spread of electricity in rural areas.

16.  The rural household spends, on an average, Rs 3,384 per year for 22
consumer non-durable products that include toiletries, cosmetics,
packaged foods, washing products, etc. The urban households spend
on an average Rs 7,559 a year for the 22 consumer non-durables.

18.  The results from another study which was conducted by Business
world also support the above findings. According to this study:
(a) Fast-moving consumer goods purchased by rural consumers include toilet
soaps, washing soap bars, edible oil, tea and washing powders. These indicate
that rural consumers buy basic products.
(b) The acceptance of hair wash preparations like shampoos is less than that of
products like soaps. This shows that personal hygiene is also considered
important by a number of rural consumers.
(c) The purchase of superior products is also indicated in this study. Toothpowders
were long considered to be the only sort of oral-care product rural markets
would buy, yet toothpaste penetration has actually overtaken toothpowder
penetration.

19.  Infrastructural facilities like roads and communication network, rural
electrification, public distribution system, cinemas, television coverage
and the like also received considerable attention in rural areas.

20.  Rural electrification has been going on in a big way. Statistics indicates
that 5,09,620, which is about 88 %, now have an electricity
connection.
 To achieve its goals the central government created an organisation
called ‘RURAL ELECTRIFICATION CORPORATION’ with the sole idea of
financing rural electrification projects.
 Rural Electricity Supply Technology (REST), Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya
Yojna (PMGY).

21.  Road Network : The road network of over three million kilometers in
India is the largest in the world.
 Rail Network : Indian railway network consists of approx. 63000 km
which is connected to thousands of villages.
 Cinema Hall
 Television Network
 Postal system
 Telecommunication

23.  The popular image of a rural consumer is of one who has limited
educational background, is exposed to limited products and brands,
chooses price over quality, and is influenced by word-of-mouth
communication. There is also the view that a rural consumer is no
different from his urban counterpart. Changing consumption patterns
reflect the evolving lifestyle of rural consumers.
 Examining the lifestyle of the rural consumer helps to understand the
consumption pattern and the influence of the environment on
consumer behavior.

24.  Increasing incomes and income distribution.
 Marketers’ efforts to reach out and educate potential consumers.
 The situation in which the consumer utilizes the product.

25. 1. Many households in the rural area are not electrified which:
(a)affects the ability of the rural consumer to use electrical products
(b) increases the demand for batteries.
2. The non-availability of piped running water affects both the durable and
non-durable markets:
(a) automatic washing machines have no demand in such situations;
(b) washing powders cannot be used if clothes are washed in streams or ponds.
3. The availability of roads influences the purchase of motorized vehicles. In
direct contrast:
(a)more than half the rural households own bicycles;
(b) Automobile manufacturer will face the hurdle to sell car or bikes to rural
households.

26.  Since a stereotype of the rural consumer or of rural consumer
behavior is absent, it creates problems as well as opportunities for the
marketer. Variations in behaviour reflect geographical, demographical
and behavioural influences on lifestyle, which provides marketers with
options to segment the market. The creative use of products suggests
possibilities for market development. Behavioural bases for
segmenting could be socio-cultural or consumer perceptions and
attitudes.

27.  To understand rural buying behavior, a marketer must first understand
(a) the factors that influence buying behavior and
(b) the variations in behavior.
 These help to generate information upon which a marketer can create
bases to segment the rural market.
◦ Environment of the consumer
◦ Geographical influences
◦ Influence of occupation
◦ Place of purchase
◦ Creative use of products

28.  Virtually all radios, cassette players and television sets are made to
urban power supply specifications. In many villages, particularly in
power-strapped states, voltages fluctuate wildly, making electrical
products susceptible to frequent breakdowns. Rural consumers may
not mind paying more for products like the television or radio if they
can withstand frequent voltage fluctuations.

29.  The rural market is not a homogeneous one. Variations in economic
development and in consumer willingness to accept innovations are
evident in rural markets.
 for example, the difference between parts of western and eastern
Uttar Pradesh (UP) is extreme.
 In western UP, villagers speak Hindi whereas in eastern UP they speak
Bhojpuri.
 Variations in consumer behaviour due to geographical locations are
also reflected in the variations in their innovativeness.

30. • The perception that the rural consumer is either a farmer or an
agricultural laborer restricts marketing effectiveness. In fact there
are other groups of consumers with different needs and behaviour and
having significant purchase volumes.
• Except Farmers other occupation profiles of consumer indicate that
the nonagricultural occupation groups of shopkeepers or traders and
those employed in service (government administration jobs, banks,
teachers, other professionals, etc.) are the high consumption segment.
Television owners in the service class constitute 43 per cent, which
means one in two persons owns a television set.

31.  Not all rural consumers buy from the same location. It is also true that
the same consumer could buy from different locations depending on
the product and the need.
 A study on haats indicates that, despite the same product being
available in the village shop, 58 per cent of the rural consumers
visiting the haats preferred to buy these from a haat because of better
prices, quality and variety.
 Rural consumers do not rely on the local outlets and haats alone, as
some of the purchases are made in the urban areas

32.  Understanding the social and attitudinal influences on rural consumer
behaviour is important to the marketer, as these serve as a guide to
decisions on product offering, pricing, distribution, media and
message; in effect forming the ‘rural marketing strategy’.

33.  In rural areas the houses are painted during festival season. The demand for
distemper paints is therefore very large. This demand is met by local
brands, which are of low quality. Asian Paints developed a product with
bright colour shades (preferred by the rural consumers) for rural markets
and which had greater durability than the local brands. It launched the
product in a pouch form and with the brand name Utsav.
 Utsav was promoted as a good quality economy brand. It used wall paintings
and point-of-purchase displays to create awareness. It identified dealers
and sub-dealers who had the potential to stock and sell Utsav. To
demonstrate the quality of Utsav, the company painted the headman’s house
or post office. The brand was well accepted by the rural consumer.

35.  The marketer who seeks to modify the behaviour of the rural
consumer needs to influence the consumer’s perception and attitude.
It is here that the marketer has to be careful in designing products
and developing message for the rural market.
 The interpretations of the rural consumer differ from those of the
urban consumers. Colours are interpreted differently, so are sizes and
shapes.
 In interior markets, brand identification is through visual patterns—a
red soap cake signifies Lifebuoy soap.

36.  Conventional wisdom on rural marketing believes that the villager
craves, but can’t afford the products his city cousin consumes. As a
result, companies usually try to reduce the prices of their products
either by creating smaller pack sizes, or by compromising on quality.
This works sometimes, and with some products.
 However, it is not true that only cheap brands sell in rural markets.
Usha found that the sale of its economy models was falling sharply in
rural areas. Farmers preferred Usha’s premier ‘Century’ brand,
though it was priced 20 per cent higher.

37.  The rural consumer has a very high involvement in any product
purchased, especially when he decides to buy high-end products which
cost a few hundreds or thousands of rupees. He has his daily routine,
and there is no sense of urgency in his lifestyle. He understands
symbols and colours better, and looks for endorsement by local
leaders or icons

38.  A marketer does not perceive an opportunity in rural market when he
or she thinks that the rural consumer buys only unbranded items. It is
useful to have a good understanding of the purchase behaviour of the
consumer in order to guide decisions in the rural markets.
 The loyalty of rural consumers to a brand varies according to product
categories. It has been seen that loyalty is low in toilet soaps,
toothpaste, batteries and washing cakes but high in home insecticides,
chyavanprash, shaving preparations and skin cream.

40.  A successful attempt in the direction of assessing the potential of
rural markets has been made by Hindustan Thompson Associates
limited.
 They made the first attempt in 1972. since most of the data are
available at district level, they collected these data for 334 districts.
They identified 11 factors and assigned a weightage to each other.
However, this was not considered to be satisfactory approach.
 Hence another attempt was made in the year 1986. During the
second attempt, they considered 26 factors for constructing the
rural marketing index, in this attempt they considered 383 districts.

41.  Area of the district in sq km
 Demographics
◦ Population
◦ Males
◦ Females
◦ Density per sq km
◦ Number of villages
◦ Percentage distribution of villages
◦ Literate – rural numbers
◦ Percentage of literacy
◦ Literate : males
◦ Literate : females
 Occupational pattern
◦ Cultivators
◦ Agricultural laborers
◦ Non Agricultural laborers

42.  Agricultural related data
◦ Gross cropped area in hectares
◦ Gross irrigated area in hectares
◦ Area under non food crops in hectares
◦ Average size of operational holdings in hectares
 Agricultural inputs data
◦ Pump sets and tube wells
◦ Fertilizer consumption in metric tonnes
◦ Number of tractors
 Rural electrification data
◦ Percentage of villages electrified
 Commercial banks data :
◦ Number of rural branches
◦ Deposits in lakh of rupees
◦ Advances in lakh of rupees

43.  Considering the environment in which the rural market operates and its
associated problems, and the experience of manufacturer and
marketing men who operates in the rural market, it is possible to evolve
certain strategies specifically for rural marketing.
 In this section we try to draw a framework for the adoption of a mix of
marketing strategies pertinent for rural marketing.

44. • Drawn from the experience of companies operating in the rural market,
meaningful product strategies for the rural market and rural consumer have
been discussed here.
• Small unit packaging : this appears to be an effective strategy for
realizing the potential of rural market. The reduced pack sizes attract a
large number of rural consumers to at least try and test the products.
• Low priced packaging : take an e.g. of ‘Janta blend, they marketed a
brand of tea which contained 70 percent tea, 20 percent of chicory and 10
percent of tipoca flour.
• New product designs
• Sturdy products
• Utility oriented products
• Brand name

45.  Pricing strategies are linked to the product strategies. The product
packaging and presentation also keeps the price low to suit the rural
consumer.
 Some of the pricing strategies are discussed below:
 Low cost/ cheap products: the price can be kept low by low unit
packing's like paisa pack of tea, shampoo sachets, Vicks 5 grams
tin, etc. this is a common strategy widely adopted by many
manufacturing and marketing concerns.
 Refill packs / Reusable packaging: in urban areas most of the
health drinks are available. The containers can be put to
multipurpose uses. Such measures can a significant impact in the
rural market.

46.  Application of value engineering: in food industry,
Soya protein is being used instead of milk protein. Milk
protein is expensive while Soya protein is cheaper, but
the nutrition content of both is the same. The basic aim
is to reduce the value of the product, so that a larger
segment can afford it, thus, expanding the market

47.  While it is necessary to formulate specific strategies for distribution
in rural areas, the characteristic of the product – whether it is
consumable or durable, the life of the product and other factors
have to kept in mind.
 The following strategies formulated for the rural category.
◦ Coverage of villages with 2000 and above population: Ideally,
coverage of villages with up to 2000 and above population could be the
break-even point for a distribution setup. By doing so the percentage of
villages covered comes to only 10% of all the rural population covered
will b substantial. With improved communication facilities it is possible to
reach distribution vas to these villages.

48.  Use of co-operative societies: There are over 3 lacks co-operative
societies operating in rural areas for different purposes like marketing
cooperatives, farmers service cooperatives and other multipurpose
cooperatives. These cooperatives have an arrangement for centralized
procurement and distribution through their respective state level federation.
 Utilization of public distributory system: The PDS in the country is fairly
well organized. The revamped PDS places more emphasis on reaching remote
rural areas like the hills and tribals. The purpose of PDS is to make available
essential commodities like food grains, sugar, kerosene, edible oils and others
to the consumers at a reasonable price.
 Utilization of multipurpose distribution centres by petroleum/oil
companies: In order to cater to the rural areas the petroleum/oil companies
have evolved a concept of multipurpose distribution centres in rural areas. In
addition to petrol/diesel, lubricants, these outlets also stock consumables
agricultural inputs like fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

49.  Distribution upto feeder markets/mandi towns: Keeping in
view the hierarchy of markets for the rural consumers, the feeder
markets and mandi towns offer excellent scope for distribution. The
rural customers visit these towns at regular intervals not only for
selling the agricultural produce but also for purchasing cloth,
jewelry, hardware, radios, torch cells and other durables and
consumer products.
 Shandies/Haaths/Jathras/Melas: These are places where
the rural consumers congregate as a rule. While
shandies/heaths are held a particular day every week, Jathras and
melas are held once or twice a year for longer durations. They are
normally timed with religious festivals. Such places attract large
number of itinerant merchants. Only temporary shops come up
selling goods of all kinds. It can be beneficial for companies to
organize sales of their product at such places.

50.  Agricultural Input Dealers: Fertilizers should be made available
to the farmers within the range of 4-5 km from their residence, as
per the essential commodities act. This is why there are about 2
lakh fertilizer dealers in the country, both in cooperative & private
sector. Example of Varana Nagar in Maharashtra proved an eye
opener in this regard where the sugar and milk co-operatives have
totally changed the life style of people. The supermarket in Varana
Nagar caters exclusively to rural consumers. Similarly a co-
operative supermarket called ‘Chintamani’ in Coimbatore (T.N)
arranges free transit of rural consumers to the supermarket of their
purchases.

51.  The burgeoning rural markets have become a great opportunity for
many companies to expand sales. However, many of them back out
as they find distribution as a major problem. Used to the developed
distribution network in the urban markets, they try the same tricks in
rural markets, namely, extensive retailing and sustained pull
generation through mass media advertising. As a result they fail and
place the blame on the less developed infrastructure of the rural
markets. Creative companies like HLL, have been experimenting to
find innovative ways of reaching the rural consumers.

52.  Difficulty in reaching rural consumers
 The major problems are:
◦ Lack of adequate transport facilities,
◦ Large distances between villages,
◦ Lack of pucca roads connecting villages to nearest townships,
◦ Lack of proper retail out lets

53.  the rural distribution chain needs the village level shopkeeper, the
mandi-level distributor and the wholesaler/stockiest in the town. And
on top of them are the manufacturers’ own warehouses/branch
office operations at selected centers in the marketing territory. Such
multiple tiers and scattered outfits push up costs and make channel
management a major problem. The scope for manufacturers’ direct
outlets such as show rooms or depots is quite limited in the rural
market unlike in urban areas. Lit become expensive as well as
unmanageable.

54.  Another problem is the availability of dealers. Many firms
find that there are a limited number of suitable dealers.
Even if the firm is willing to start from scratch and try out
rank newcomers, the choice of candidates is really
limited.

55.  Retail sales outlets in the rural market suffer from poor viability. A
familiar paradox in rural distribution is that the manufacturer incurs
additional expenses on distribution; still the retail outlets find that the
business is un remunerative. The scattered nature of the market
and the multiplicity of tiers in the chain use up the additional funds
the manufacturer is prepared to part with And no additional money
comes to any of the groups.

56.  Inadequacy of institutional/bank credit is another constraint. Rural
outlets are unable to carry adequate stocks due to lack of credit
facilities. They are unable to extend credit to their customers. Thus
there is a vicious circle of lack of credit facilities leading to
inadequate stocking and loss of business, finally resulting in poor
viability of outlets.

57.  There are wide regional variations in the prosperity levels of the
districts and hence in their market potential. These need to be
analyzed and understood sectorally in order to determine the
methods for approaching them.
 A socio-economic survey undertaken in four progressive districts,
one from each part of the country—Tanjore, Ludhiana, Burdwan
and Kolhapur—revealed a healthy per capita income growth of 5
per cent per annum among big and small farmer against a nation
average of 1.5 per cent. This has come about through improved use
of land coupled with a reduction in family size.

58.  Consider Hero Honda Motors. Its 360 dealers allover the
country has reported the emergence of an unofficial
channel of distribution –village mechanics, local real
estate agents, shopkeepers who sell non-durables and
so on. These people are taking motorcycles from the
official dealers-usually in twos and threes— displaying
them outside their premises and closing a sale. The
paper work, though, is left to the dealer to complete.

59.  In terms of their coverage of population and their share
in total supply of agricultural inputs, including credit,
Cooperatives occupy an important place in India’s rural
economy. India has largest network of cooperatives in
the world. Rural scan reports that there are 4398 primary
marketing societies and 2933 large agricultural
multipurpose primary marketing services(LAMPS) in the
country.

60.  Public Distribution System (PDS)
 The fair price shops run by government can be utilized to sell consumables
and low value durables.
 Agricultural Input Dealers
 Fertilizer companies have retail outlets within a range of 5 km to any village.
They offer a scope for marketers.
 NGOs
 Non government organizations (NGOs), can reach interiors of villages. Most
NGOs have progrms focusing on sustainable development through
providing avenue for income generation. They command substantial
influence in the villages covered by them. Companies may join hands with
them to mutual benefit. With NGOs undertaking distribution, companies
realize benefits accruing from infrastructure and grass roots level
networking. Also organization security would provide a buffer against
delayed retail collections. From the NGOs standpoint, such association with
companies could yield employment opportunities for local residents.

61.  Barefoot Salesmen
 One useful option is to train sons –of-the soil to operate as barefoot
salesmen. The important requirements like fluency in the local dialect and
familiarity with persons and terrain will be the advantage in hire the persons
form villages.
 A barefoot salesman, operating on a retailer-cum-commission basis, could
book orders from retailers in villages with in a limited radius of his village.
When orders are aggregated and served there will be economies in
distribution.
 Syndicated distribution
 A new alternative approach is syndicated distribution. Under this approach,
marketers of household products could group together and consider the
formation of a syndicated trading organization, which could jointly distribute
collective group of household products in the rural market and enjoy shared
economies.

62.  Network Marketing: Network marketing is a form of
direct selling. It can take place at two levels.
◦ Single level—distributor appoints sales persons. He earns profits
on sales, made by him.
◦ Multi-level-distributor introduces another distributor (a friend or
relative, in general), who in turns introduces another distributor.

63.  The promotion measure should be cost effective due to the low
literacy rate of the rural population. Word of mouth is an important
message carrier in the rural areas and “opinion leader” play a
significant role in influencing the prospective rural consumers about
accepting or rejecting a product or a brand.
 There are other attributes in the promotion strategy which are
explained as under:
◦ Mass media: In the present world mass media is a powerful medium of
communication. The following are the mass media generally used:
◦ Television.
◦ Cinema
◦ Radio
◦ Print media: Handbills and Booklets, posters, stickers, banners,

64.  Personal selling and opinion leaders: In personal selling it is
required that the potential users are identified and awareness is
created among them about the product, its features, uses and
benefits. This can be achieved only by personal selling by highly
motivated sales person. In fact the word of mouth information holds
lot validity in rural areas even today.
 Special campaigns: During crop harvest and marketing seasons
it is beneficial to take up special promotion campaigns in rural
areas. Tractor owners (tonee) conducted by MRF Limited is one
such example. Brooks Bond carries out marches in rural areas with
band, music and caparisoned elephants to promote their brand of
tea.

65.  Philips India was among the first consumer durables companies to hit
the rural 143 market with its Bahadur brand of Transistors in the 1950s.
but somewhere down the line, the rural focus was gone. However, in
the mid-1998, Philips felt the need to improve its market share in
upcountry markets. It decided to launch a special project in Tamil Nadu
and Andra Pradesh at a total cost of Rs. 5 Crore. Rural consumers
need to be seen as ‘different’ and ‘not inferior’.
 It is with this belief that Philips approached rural buyers in Tamil Nadu
and Andra Pradesh. “the idea was to present Philips in a relevant
manner to the rural consumer, position it as a truly International brand,
the way a rural buyer would understand it,”says V.Swaminathan, Philips
general manager (distribution & rural marketing) at its consumer
electronics department division. So Philips held road shows, van
promotions, merchandising etc. in villages with populations of about
5000.

66.  During the exercise, Philips painted 1 lakh square ft of wall area in
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. 4 ad campaigns- 2 for B&W (Black
&White) TV and 1 each of C (Colour) TV and audio systems- were
created in Tamil and Telugu. These were executed in cinemas,
theatres and through video vans (68% of people in Tamil Nadu watch
films and 81% in Andhra). The electronic media ads were slickly used.
Philips did not compromise on the production values.
 In the ad film for Andhra Pradesh, Philips used popular singer S P
Balasubramanyam. The ad showed star complementing his son for
buying a worldclass Philips TV. The results of the entire exercise: sales
rose by between 25% and 30% in these states in the last 6 months.
Now, Philips is extending the exercise to Uttar Pradesh and
Maharashtra.

67.  "The medium is the message" acquires critical importance for advertisers
and marketers in India as different media have varying penetration levels.
For example terrestrial TV has the highest penetration among all types of
media with 78 per cent penetration in urban India and 36 per cent in rural
India. It's reach is the highest in the 14 to 19 age group with 62 per cent.
 In contrast satellite TV reaches only 13 per cent of India. The medium's
highest penetration of 52 per cent is in urban Maharashtra. But in the rural
parts of the state it has a penetration of a mere 4 per cent. Similarly in
Assam and Orissa satellite TV reaches only 4 per cent of the population.
 Given the high literacy levels it is natural that print media has the highest
penetration in Kerala. It reaches 76 per cent in urban Kerala and 65 per cent
in rural parts of the state. Print media has the lowest reach in Assam with 11
per cent.

68.  Few of the available options in the traditional media are
Puppetry, Folk Theater & Song, Wall Painting,
Demonstration, Posters, Agricultural Games, and Post
Cards etc.
 Puppetry
◦ Puppetry is the indigenous theatre of India. From time immortal it has been
the most popular form and well-appreciated form of entertainment available
to the village people. It is an inexpensive activity. The manipulator uses the
puppets as a medium to express and communicate ideas, values and social
messages.
◦ Life Insurance Corporation of India used puppets to educate rural masses
about Life Insurance; enlisting the help of the literacy house in Luck now.
These plays were shown to the audience in villages in UP, Bihar, & MP.
The number of inquires at local Life Insurance Companies during the period
immediately following the performance was compared with normal
frequency and found to be considerable higher. The field staff of the
corporation also reported a definite impact on the business.

69.  Folk Theater
◦ Folk theaters are mainly short and rhythmic in form. The simple tunes help in
informing and educating the people in informal and interesting manner. It has
been used as an effective medium for social protest against injustice,
exploitation and oppression. Folk Theater / Songs Forms In India Andhra
Pradesh: Veethi Natakam, Kuchupudi, Burratatha Assam: Ankiya Nat, Kirtania
Natak, Ojapali Bihar: Bidesia, Serikela Chhau, Jat-Jatni Bidpada, Ramkhelia
Gujarat: Bhavai etc.
 Demonstration:
◦ "Direct Contact" is a face-to-face relationship with people individually and with
groups such as the Panchayats and other village groups. Such contact helps
in arousing the villager's interest in their own problem and motivating them
towards self-development. Demonstration may be
A. i. Method demonstration
ii. Result demonstration
B. i. Simple Demonstration
ii. Composite Demonstration

70. ◦ Information about people
◦ Objectives to be accomplished
◦ Demonstration plan & Execution of the plan
◦ Evaluation of the demonstration
◦ Reconsideration after evaluation.

71.  The countries oldest tradition holds the key to solving these
problems. The mobile supermarkets of rural India.
 Facts & Figures:
◦ Over 47,000 haats and 25,000 melas are held annually. The
average daily sale at a Haat is about Rs.2.25 Lacs Annual sales at
melas amount to Rs.3,500 crore. Over half the shoppers at haats
have shopping lists. More than 10,000 melas draw visitors from all
over India. Nearly half the outlets at melas are for manufactured
goods. Haats is a better opportunity for promotion after brand
building has been done at Mela. Melas are organized after harvest
season, so the villager has enough money, which he will be ready
to spend.

72.  Wall Paintings are an effective and economical medium for
advertising in rural areas. They are silent unlike traditional
theatre .A speech or film comes to an end, but wall painting
stays as long as the weather allows it to. Retailer normally
welcomes paintings of their shops, walls, and name boards.
Since it makes the shop look cleaner and better. Their shops
look alluring and stand out among other outlets. Besides rural
households shopkeepers and panchayats do not except any
payment, for their wall to be painted with product messages.
To get one's wall painted with the product messages is
seemed as a status symbol.

73.  The research process is very critical to rural marketing. There are
two reasons for this:
◦ The marketer has limited understanding of the rural consumer;
and
◦ The marketer who is urban oriented may find it useful to unlearn
consumer response to decision variables in the urban market.
This requires the use of research methodology that is sensitive to
social processes in rural markets.
 The research process used in urban markets may not always be
appropriate in the rural markets. Selecting the research process
therefore requires care in its application in the rural setting.

74.  There are many problems to be tackled in rural marketing, despite
rapid strides in the development of the rural sector. Some of the
common problems are discussed below:
 Transportation: Transportation is an important aspect in the
process of movement of products from urban production centers to
remote villages. The transportation infrastructure is extremely poor
in rural India. Due to this reason, most of the villages are not
accessible to the marketing man. In our country, there are six lakhs
villages. Nearly 50 per cent of them are not connected by road at
all. Many parts in rural India have only kachcha roads. During the
monsoons, even these roads become unserviceable.

75.  Communication: Marketing communication in rural
markets suffers from a variety of constraints. The literacy
rate among the rural consumers is very low. Print media,
therefore, have limited scope in the rural context. Apart
from low levels of literacy, the tradition-bound nature of
rural people, their cultural barriers and their overall
economic backwardness add to the difficulties of the
communication task.

76.  Availability of appropriate media:
 It has been estimated that all organized media in the country put
together can reach only 30 per cent of the rural population of India.
The print media covers only 18 per cent of the rural population. The
radio network, in theory, covers 90 per cent. But, actual listenership
is much less. TV is popular, and is an ideal medium for
communicating with the rural masses. But, it is not available in all
interior parts of the country. It is estimated that TV covers 20 per
cent of the rural population. But, the actual viewership is meager.
The cinema, however, is a good medium for rural communication.
But, these opportunities are very low in rural areas.

77.  Warehousing:
 A storage function is necessary because production and
consumption cycles rarely match. Many agricultural commodities
are produced seasonally, whereas demand for them is continuous.
The storage function overcomes discrepancies in desired quantities
and timing. In warehousing too, there are special problems in the
rural context. The central warehousing corporation and state
warehousing, which constitute the top tier in public warehousing in
our country, have not extended their network of warehouses to the
rural parts.

78.  Village structure in India:
 In our country, the village structure itself causes many problems. Most of the
villages are small and scattered. It is estimated that 60 per cent of the villages
are in the population group of below 1,000. The scattered nature of the villages
increases distribution costs, and their small size affects economic viability of
establishing distribution points.
 Rural markets and sales management:
 Rural marketing involves a greater amount of personal selling effort compared
to urban marketing. The rural salesman must also be able to guide the rural
customers in the choice of the products. It has been observed that rural
salesmen do not properly motivate rural consumers. The rural salesman has to
be a patient listener as his customers are extremely traditional. He may have to
spend a lot of time on consumer visits to gain a favorable response from him.

79.  Inadequate banking and credit facilities:
 In rural markets, distribution is also handicapped due to lack of
adequate banking and credit facilities. The rural outlets require
banking support to enable remittances, to get replenishment of
stocks, to facilitate credit transactions in general, and to obtain
credit support from the bank. Retailers are unable to carry optimum
stocks in the absence of adequate credit facilities. Because of this
problem, the are not able to offer credit to the consumers.

80.  Branding:
 The brand is the surest means of conveying quality to rural
consumers. Day by day, though national brands are getting popular,
local brands are also playing a significant role in rural areas. This
may be due to illiteracy, ignorance and low purchasing power of
rural consumers. It has been observed that there is greater
dissatisfaction among the rural consumers with regard to selling of
low quality duplicate brands, particularly soaps, creams, clothes,
etc. whose prices are often half of those of national brands, but sold
at prices on par or sightlines than the prices of national brands.
Local brands are becoming popular In rural markets in spite of their
lower quality.

81.  Packaging:
 As far as packaging is concerned, as a general rule, smaller
packages are more popular in the rural areas. At present, all
essential products are not available in villages in smaller packaging.
The lower income group consumers are not able to purchase large
and medium size packaged goods. It is also found that the labeling
on the package is not in the local language. This is a major
constraint to rural consumers understanding the product
characteristics.

82.  The National Co-operative Development Corporation has been
promoting and financing a wide range of economic activities in rural
areas through co-operatives. The Co-operative is a unique
institution in the country catering to the development of the rural
economy and agriculture sector through co-operative. There is no
other institution in the country which is exclusively for meeting the
requirement of co-operatives.
 NCDC has been playing special attention to weaker sections co-
operatives in various part of the country. The promotional and
development role of NCDC had lead to continuous diversification
and expansion of co-operative programs under its preview.

83.  When producers of agricultural commodities or any other
product form a society with an objective of carrying out
marketing of their produce, such society is called as
cooperative marketing society. The need for co-
operative marketing arose due to many defects
observed and experienced in the private and open
marketing system.

84.  Several malpractices prevail in the marketing of agricultural produce. For
example, arbitrary deductions from the produce, manipulation of weights
and measures and cheating the farmers, collusion between the broker and
the buyer while fixing the prices, delay in payment of amounts due to
farmers, etc.
 There exists a chain of intermediaries between the producer and the final
consumer.They include village merchant, itinerant trader, wholesaler,
commission agent, pre harvest contractor and retailer. They take their own
margins for the services, they render. But these margins are generally ex-
orbitant, making the commodities costly for the consumers and reducing the
producer's share in the consumer's price. A cooperative marketing society
can eliminate some or all of the intermediaries and can reach to the
consumers and establish direct trade relations with them.

85.  Under the system of co-operative marketing whole
responsibility of marketing is taken up by the farmers
themselves, organized on co-operative basis. The area
of operation of marketing society is usually fixed with
reference to local conditions - area based or commodity
based. The commodity-based societies related to
grapes, oranges, banana, pomegranate, etc. have wider
jurisdiction covering the major areas growing each crop.

86.  There are some services such as transport, storage, financing,
grading, packing, loading/unloading which are carried out by some
private functionaries who charge high rates for these services. A co-
operative marketing society performs these services efficiently and
at cheaper rates.
 A co-operative marketing society provides market finance to
farmers and ensures better returns to their produce. Besides
marketing society can act as an agent of credit co-operative society
and help to recover loans advanced by credit societies.

87.  The Government of India has designed and implemented several
issue based programmes aimed at rural development. The
developmental activities under the Ministry of Rural Development
cover infrastructure development and reforms in the agricultural
sector, the non-farm sector and the social sector Within these
sectors, issues related to production, productivity, skills, access to
institutional credit, marketing of produce or services, education,
health, social restructuring, empowerment of women and other
socially deprived section, etc. have been the areas of focus for the
policies.

88.  Under the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (Prime Minsiter's
Village Development Programme) (PGGY), announced in the 2001-
02 budget, at fund of Rs 5,000 crore was earmarked for
infrastructural development in village, primarily village roads for
which 50 per cent of the fund was reserved. The remainder was
planned for rural housing, drinking water and sanitation. The Central
Government has achieved considerable success in meeting the
drinking water needs of 91 per cent of rural habitations, with an
investment of more than Rs 40,000 crore on the rural drinking water
supply

89.  Employment Opportunities
 With the objective of promoting self-employment among the educated
unemployed rural youth, government programmes such as the Pradhan
Mantri Rojgar Yojna (PMRY) and the Intergrated Rural Development Project,
were devloped. Thee programmes, implemented at the grass-roots level
under the system of Panchayati Raj Institution, aim to provide skill-based
training and link access to bank credit (subsidized).
 Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana :
 The Employment Assurance Scheme and the Jawahar Gram Samridhi
Yojana (JGSY) are two schemes under the programme. The EAS is meant to
create additional employment opportunities during periods of acute shortage
of wage employment through manual world for the rural poor living below the
poverty line. The JGSY aims at the creation of need-based rural
infrastructure at the village level.

90.  Rural Housing :
 The 1991 Census revealed the presence of 1.4 crore household
without shelter or residing in unserviceable kuccha house. The
Central Government announced a National Housing and Habitat
Policy in 1998 aiming to provide 'Housing for All' by facilitating the
construction of 20 lakh additional housing units (13 lakh in rural
areas and 7 lakh in urban areas) annually. With an emphasis on
extending benefits to the poor and the deprived, the Government is
committed to ending all shelterlessness by the end of the Tenth
Plan period.

91.  Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana:
 Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), an ongoing
programme for the self-employment of the rural poor, has been in
effect since 1999 after the restructuring of the erstwhile Intergrated
Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and allied programmes like
Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM)
Development of Women and Children in Rural Area (DWCRA),
Supply of Toolkits in Rural Areas (SITRA) and ganga Kalyan Yojana
(GKY), besides the Million Wells Scheme (MWS) With the launching
of the SGSY the earlier programmes are no longer in operation.

92.  NABARD has decided to extend 100 per cent refinance facility to
banks for financing Farmers Service Centres (FSC) set up in
collaboration with Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Ltd. (MSSL) for
providing various extension services to farmers, including supply of
agri-inputs. FSC is internded to benefit farmers by way of higher
yields and productivity through private-sector participation in
technology transfer and extension services.

93.  Land reforms aim at redistributing ownership holding from the
viewpoint of social justice and reorganizing operational holdings as
a method to optimize land utilization.
 The reforms measures were as follows :
 Distribute land among the landless by taking procession of surplus
land from large landholders.
 Provide security to sharecroppers or tenants on tenure and
ownership
 rights by regulating rent payable by them to landlords.
 Protect the interests of tribals in landownership against
encroachment by non-tribals.

94.  The land was described as an economic unit and an economic
holding was defined as one that could provide a reasonable
standard of living to the cultivator and give full employment for a
family. The land ceiling stated that no individual farmer should own
more than three times the economic holding. Factors like soil
fertility, irrigation, methods of cultivation and the nature of crops
were considered when fixing the ceiling. Under this, 4 ha. or 10
acres of the best land and 7.5 acres or 18 acres of average land
were fixed as the ceiling, considering that an annual net income of
Rs. 15,000 would accrue to a family at 1970 prices.