RURAL MARKETING
Opportunities & Challenges

Rural India
TEN QUESTIONS TO START WITH:
1. What is BoP and Who is the architect of BoP?
2. What is the Share of Agriculture in Indian GDP and its Growth?
3. What is the per capita consumption of Cereals in India?
4. What percentage of Population lives in Rural India and depends
on Agriculture?
5. What are the Revolutions in Indian Agriculture?
6. Which are the major crops in which India tops in world
production?
7. Which are the major Agri & Food companies in the world?
8. What is the growth rate of FMCG in rural market?
9. Name any successful model of rural market penetration?
10.What is inclusive model?
11.What is the reason of WTO – Doha Failure?
12.What is the key strategy & criteria for venturing in Rural India?

Reliance’s Agri Business
Flow of Presentation
 Business in Rural India
 Generating Profits
 Developing New Markets
 Driving Innovation
 Expanding the labour pool
 Strengthening Value Chain
 Challenges in the future
 India – Innovations & Execution
 India – Prerequisites for success
 Strategy and Solution Matrix
 Indian Rural Market – A snap shot
 Myth about Rural Market
 Opportunities & Challenges in Rural Market
 Reliance Agri Business Initiatives in Rural India

Rural Quotes
To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that
must be thought
Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
Disruptive innovations are best introduced in the low-income
markets
Harvard Business School
Large viable markets exist at the Bottom of the Pyramid
C K Prahalad
Environmentally, socially and financially sustainable
enterprises can perform well in both wealthy and emerging
markets

Opportunities for Business in Rural
India: Profits & Growth
It lays the foundation for long
term growth by
 Developing new markets
 Driving innovations
 Expanding the labour pool
 Strengthening value chains
Business with the poor in rural areas can be profitable
Source: Creating Value for All – UNDP, 2008

Opportunities for Business in Rural India
 In 2006-07, 1.1 crore insurance policies were sold in rural India. Out of
that, LIC sold 2.16 lakh policies targeting 4 mn in 2007-08
 Of 185 mn BSNL mobile connections, 21.31% (39.46 mn) in rural India
up-to June 2007
 The FMCG sector in rural areas is expected to grow by 40 per cent as
against 25 per cent in urban areas
Generating Profits
Business with rural poor, helps in higher rate
of returns than ventures in developed markets

Opportunities for Business in Rural India
 Rural poor pays more for essential products, services, credit,
electricity & health care
 Business models with better value for money or entirely new
products and services to improve the lives of the poor – can reap
pioneer profits in return
Developing New Markets
The 4 billion people at the bottom of
the income pyramid have a
combined income of about $5 trillion
Source: Creating Value for All – UNDP, 2008
S

Opportunities for Business in Rural India
 To meet the rural poor’s preferences and needs, must offer new
combination of price and performance
 With lots of problems in Rural India, companies can explore new
innovation in doing business
Driving Innovations
Innovations with inclusive business models
contribute to a company’s competitiveness

Innovations by Aavishkaar
No Investment Industry Year Location Equity + Other*
(INR Lacs)
1 Servals Automation Stove Burners 2002 Chennai 11.9 + 9.5
2 Sh. Kamdhenu Elecs Dairy Automation 2003 Anand (Guj.) 18.0 + 1.8
3 Tide Technocrats Renewable Energy 2003 Bangalore 12.2
4 Craftsbridge Handicrafts 2004 Pune 68.0
5 Net Systems Accessibility Software 2005 Mumbai 20.0 + 10.0
6 Naveengram* Rural Marketing 2005 Jodhpur 15.0
7 C K Technologies Multi-lingual S/w 2006 Chennai 20.0
8 Vaatsalya Health Healthcare 2006 Bangalore 145.0
9 Vortex Engineering Rural ATM 2006 Chennai 92.0
10-12 Desert Artisans Handicrafts 2007 Delhi / Raj. 117.3
13 Rangsutra Handicrafts 2007 Delhi / Raj. 21.9
Total Invested 526.3
*OTHER instruments
1. Loans that generate returns via regular interest payments
2. Loans that accrue interest and convert into equity later
3. Debentures that convert into equity later or into regular monthly payments

Target Industries - Aavishkaar
Technologies for
development
• A significant growth area in rural India
• Strong contacts with IITs and IT incubators provide an advantage in
scouting
• Potential opportunities in software advancements for BOP financial
services and technologies for health service delivery
• A huge opportunity: Despite a plethora of traditional crafts, India has only
1.2% of the US$ 100 Bn international handicrafts market
• Aavishkaar’s experience in the sector and a partnership with Fabindia
places the fund in a unique position to help build this market
• The Fund seeks to invest into power companies using renewable sources
such as biomass
• This could include both independent power producers (IPPs) as well as
manufacturers of related equipment
• Growth in rural retail is stimulating a large number of small start-ups
looking to supply to large retail initiatives such as Reliance, Big Bazaar etc.
• Other major agri-business opportunities exist in export markets of organic
foods etc. and in developing the marketing and distribution systems
• Aavishkaar will continue to seek out companies that provide innovative and
affordable products and solutions that result in resource savings for rural
population
• The fund will leverage its association with grassroots networks such as the
Rural Innovation Network etc. to source projects
Handicrafts
Renewable Energy &
Waste Management
Agri Business
Rural Innovations

Opportunities for Business in Rural India
 The advantages of hiring rural poor as
employees go beyond cost savings
 These rural poor can deliver high quality
products & services through adequate
training
 Local knowledge & connections of the
rural people helps in better serving of the
communities & understanding of market
Expanding the labour pool

Opportunities for Business in Rural India
 Incorporating rural poor in the
business value chain, firms can
expand supply & lower risk
 This helps in reduce costs &
increase flexibility
Strengthening Value Chains

Challenges in the Future
 Distribution - Last mile connectivity is expensive
 Understanding the rural consumer
 Poor infrastructure and communication
 Fragmented market base
 Non-existing supply chain
 Products / Services have failed to reach the farm level
 Shopping takes place in the nearby towns and villages
 Lack of penetration in the promising market base
The requirement is of certain microeconomic structural
changes which aim at these fundamental problems

India – Innovations & Execution !!!
 Need for innovations at the grass root level
 Identify the unattended potential market and the means to
service it
 Focused execution
 Aggregate demand for a consolidated market base
 Delivery platforms to make available the goods &
services
 Providing for the Touch & Feel factor
 End to End Cost Management
 Focus on logistics – minimize loss, maximize value
 Generating financial value for all the stakeholders
involved

India – Prerequisites for Success !!!
 To make an impact in rural India, the effort must scale
 Can an effort scale to all the villages in India
 To Scale we need
 Sustainable Business Model
 Organisation which thinks and acts Rural
 Technology
 Ease of replication
102.1
17
10
3.9 1.9 1 0.3 0.3
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
3 9 13 18 26 42 65 112
HH Income in thousand Rs/month
NumberofHHinmillions
135 million rural households

Growing Inclusive Markets Strategy
Matrix and Summary of Solutions
Source: Creating Value for All – UNDP, 2008

Indian Rural Market –
A Snap Shot

Rural Market – An Introduction
 742 million people
 Rural is bigger than urban
 FMCG's 53%
 Durables 59%
 Estimated annual size of the rural market
 FMCG Rs 65,000 Crore
 Durables Rs 5,000 Crore
 Agri-inputs (incl. tractors) Rs 45,000 Crore
 2 / 4 wheelers Rs 8,000 Crore
 Total Rs 1,23,000 Crore
Source: Francis Kanoi, 2002
Source: NCAER,2002
Huge Market potential in Rural India, especially for FMCG &
Consumer Durables

Rural Market – Fact Figures
Some impressive facts about the rural sector
 Of the six lakh villages, 5.50 lakh have a Village Public
Telephone (VPT)
 In 2006-07, 66.56 mn Kisan Credit Cards issued against 65 mn
credit-plus-debit cards in urban
 Of 20 million Rediff mail signups, 60 % are from small towns.
50% transactions from these towns on Rediff online shopping
site
 In 2007, 72 mn rural HHs availing banking services in
comparison to 34 mn urban HHs
 Investment in formal savings instruments: 6.6 mn HHs in rural
and and 6.7 mn in urban

Rural Demand – Consumer Durables
1995 - 96 2001 - 02 2009 - 10
Scooters 33.1 39.4 39.9
Motorcycles 47.3 39.8 48.3
Mopeds 52.7 58.2 57.7
Cars / Jeeps 2.1 8.0 10.9
Automotives 37.9 36.0 37.9
Television 54.0 54.5 44.2
White Goods 23.8 23.9 23.7
Fans 50.0 56.9 56.7
Low Cost Items 58.1 60.1 61.3
% of All India
Source: NCAER, 2005
Huge Demand Prospects for Consumer Durables in Rural India

Rural Demand – Expenditure
1995 - 96 2001 - 02 2009 - 10
Edible Oils 64.3 67.1 62.9
Health Beverages 28.6 27.3 28.1
Packaged Biscuits 36.0 42.8 30.3
Shampoos 27.2 31.9 33.0
Toilet Soaps 49.8 52.5 54.7
Washing Cakes 68.7 71.4 75.6
Washing Powder 50.4 50.8 54.9
% of All India
Source: NCAER, 2005
Shift in Rural Expenditure

Distribution of Monthly Per Capita
Expenditure
Urban Rural
Food 51.5 63.7
Consumer goods 19.6 13.1
Fuel, clothing & foot wear 13.9 14.8
Medical 5.5 5.5
Education 5.1 2.5
Rent & taxes 4.5 0.4
Source: NCAER, 2004
Rural India spend maximum on food items and also
more than urban India

Distribution of Towns in India
Town Class Population No of towns % of total
towns
Class I 1 lac and above 423* 8.2
Class II 50,000-99,999 498 9.6
Class III 20,000- 49,999 1386 26.9
Class IV 10,000- 19,999 1560 30.2
Class V 5,000- 9,999 1057 20.5
Class VI less than 5000 237 4.6
Total no of
towns
5161 100.0
Source: Census 2001
90 % of
durables
purchased
by rural
people are
from these
1900 towns
*10 lakh+ : 27, 5-10 lakh: 42, 1-5 lakh: 354

Rural Consumer Insights
 Rural India buys
 Products more often (mostly
weekly)
 Buys small packs, low unit
price more important than
economy
 Distribution and pricing are the
mantras to success in rural
India
Even expensive brands like Close up, Marie biscuits, Clinic
shampoo are doing well because of deep distribution.

Largest Rural Brands
BrandBrand CategoryCategory Growth%Growth%
Parle-GParle-G BiscuitsBiscuits 8.2%8.2%
Lifebuoy ActiveLifebuoy Active Toilet SoapToilet Soap 6.4%6.4%
LuxLux Toilet SoapToilet Soap 5.6%5.6%
GhariGhari Washing PowderWashing Powder 21.5%21.5%
NirmaNirma Washing PowderWashing Powder -13.1%-13.1%
Brand influences the Rural marketing
Source : ACNielsen Retail Store Audit, MATJuly’04

Rural Consumer Insights
 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
 Chik shampoo, second largest shampoo brand
 Ghadi detergent, third largest brand
 Fewer brand choices in rural : number of FMCG brand in
rural is half that of urban
 Buy value for money, not cheap products

MYTH 1: Rural Market Is a Homogeneous
Mass
REALITY
 Heterogeneous population
 16 languages
 State wise variations in rural demographics
 Literacy (Kerala 90%, Bihar 44%)
 Population below poverty line (Orissa 48%, Punjab
6%)
Big
Landlords
Traders,Small Farmers
Marginal Farmers
Laborers, Artisans
Source: Planning Commission, GoI

MYTH 2: Disposable Income Is Low
REALITY
 Number of middle class HHs (annual income Rs 45,000-
2,15,000)
Rural 27.4 million
Urban 29.5 million
 Per Capita Annual Income
Rural Rs 9,481
Urban Rs 19,407
Total Rs 12,128
Source: NCAER,2002
 Rural incomes CAGR was 10.95% compared to 10.74% in
urban between 1970-71 and 1993-94
Source: ETIG, 2002-03

MYTH 3: Individuals Decide About
Purchases
REALITY
 Decision making process is collective
 Purchase process- influencer, decider, buyer, one who
pays can all be different. So marketers must address
brand message at several levels
 Rural youth brings brand knowledge to HH

Rural Marketing
Opportunities & Challenges

Marketing Opportunities
 Growth in Rural Income – 14.3% in Higher income group &
8.6% in upper middle Class income group
 Changing consumption patter – food to non food products
 High market growth rate – 5 times the pace of urban market
 The FMCG sector in rural areas is expected to grow by 40 per
cent as against 25 per cent in urban areas
 Increasing rural prosperity – Expenditure power on FMCG in
urban India is Rs. 49,500 crores as against is Rs. 63,500 crores
in rural India
 Increasing outlay on Rural Development by Government

Infrastructure Improving Rapidly
 In 50 years only 40% villages connected by road, in next
10 years another 30%.
 More than 90 % villages electrified, though only 44%
rural homes have electric connections.
 Rural telephone density has gone up by 300% in the last
10 years, every 1000+ pop is connected by STD.

Infrastructure Improving Rapidly
 70% of R1,R2, R3 can be reached through mass media.
14
21
41
26
53
70
Satellite
TV
Radio Press Cinema TV All Media

Climbing Social Indicators
Between 1981 to 2001
 Number of pucca houses doubled from 22% to 41%
and kuccha houses halved (41% to 23%)
 Percentage of BPL families declined from 46% to 27%
 Rural Literacy level improved from 36% to 59%

Challenges in the Future
Making effective use of the large available infrastructure
 Post offices 1,38,000
 Haats (periodic markets) 42,000
 Melas (exhibitions) 25,000
 Mandis (agri markets) 7,000
 Public distribution shops 3,80,000
 Bank branches 32,000

Challenges in the Future
Using IT to transform markets
 Over 15 million villagers in India who are aware of the
Internet and over 300,000 villagers have used it
 ITCs e-choupal and other IT initiatives (EID parry, Amul
dairy information system kiosk)
 STD revolution/ mobile connectivity – Over 6 lacs public call
office

Challenges in the Future
Proliferation of large format rural retail stores
 DSCL Haryali stores – 200 Stores
 ITC e- Choupal (6500) & Choupal Sagar – 23 Stores
 M & M Shubh Labh stores
 TATA/Rallis Kisan Kendras
 Escorts rural stores
 Warnabazaar, Maharashtra (annual sale Rs 40 crore)
 HLL Shakti & Scojo Foundation – Micro franchising Model
 Reliance’s Rural Business Hubs

Reliance’s Agri Business
Collection
Centres
Farm Produce Arrival Sorting & Grading
Farmer Payment Field Demo Field Demo
Agri Projects Agri Projects RBH
Sanjeev Asthana

Reliance’s Agri Business
COLLECTION CENTERS
Objectives:
Direct procurement of fruits & vegetables from farmers thereby
providing the better realization and ready market access to farmers
Infrastructures
 100 collection centers in 13 states
 400 company employee, especially Post graduate or graduate in
Agriculture
 Total Area: 1 – 1.25 lakh sq. ft.
 Well equipped with computers, IT, Sorting & Grading equipments,
etc.
Procurement:
 Daily procurement of about 2 – 2.5 MT from each CC, i.e. a total of
200 – 250 MT / day.
 Total cash purchase of 15 – 20 Lakh daily

Reliance’s Agri Business
FARM SERVICES THROUGH COLLECTION CENTERS
 Providing quality inputs in terms of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides,
fungicides, micro irrigation equipments
 Farm advocacy and extension services to the farmers on pre &
post harvest management
 Technology dissemination for increasing the farm productivity
 Demonstration on new advanced technology of crop production
including drip irrigation, mulching, shade net house cultivation,
poly house cultivation, poly tunnel, etc.
 Micro finance facilities for farmers for crop cultivation
 Facilitating crop insurance, general insurance, life & accident
insurance for farmers

Reliance’s Agri Business
STAPLE BUSINESS
A Mandi-to-Retailer Supply Chain Company for Staples
 A range of branded products
 State-of-art Processing Facilities
 Own PCSs : 16,000 tons / month capacity at Gurgaon, Hyderabad,
Ahmedabad, Mumbai
 Third Party Facilities on dedicated usage
 Distribution Network
 Super-stockists & Stockists in most towns
 Own Wholesale Stores (Ranger Farm) in most lucrative markets (in place of
a Stockist)
 Wide network of warehouses / cold storages across the country
 Mostly hired; Temporary, variable rentals
 Strong organization
 Purchasing at Origin Mandi
 Strong Product Management
 In-depth Market Research & Effective Consumer Communication
 Merchandizing / Category Management for Ranger Farms Stores for Staples

Reliance’s Agri Business
STAPLE BUSINESS PRINCIPLES
 Staples business has 4 distinct business streams with individual P&L
1. Branded Products’ Distribution
2. Tolling – Reliance Fresh, Others
3. Other Revenue Streams -- Bulk / Institutions / Exports
4. Distribution through Ranger Farm Stores – P&L numbers included in WSD;
merchandising & category management owned by Staples business
 Products covered are Rice, Dal, Wheat & Flours, Spices, Dry Fruits, Oils and Tea &
Coffee – premium products under Kitchen Glory brand
 Business plan and P&L is unitised for Branded Products’ Distribution
 Tolling is primarily PCS-centered
 Bulk / Institutions / Exports will be centralized
 Strong validation process in place and further investments will be made only
when targets for previous quarter are met
 Except small investments (Rs. 10-15 lacs each) for “Roasting / Salting of Dry
Fruits” and “Grinding of Spices” where the payback is <1 year

Reliance’s Agri Business
PCS at Ahmadabad
PCS at Hyderabad

Reliance’s Agri Business – Kitchen Glory

Reliance’s Agri Business
WHOLE SALE DISTRIBUTION - BUSINESS MODEL
 WSD business is broken into three revenue streams to reflect focused strategy and
performance of each business
 Ranger Farm Store
 Direct Distribution
 Bulk Trading
 The Support infrastructure required to manage the above businesses is as below
 Agri-business center (ABC) for seamless backward linkage to the farm.
 City Pooling Point (CPP) within CPC for consolidation, reorganization and
distribution of F&V from different sources to meet RF store business
requirements.
 Our Customers
 Push cart vendors
 Small retailers
 HORECA segment
 Kirana stores
 Institutions

Reliance’s Agri Business
WHOLE SALE DISTRIBUTION – BUSINESS PRINCIPLES
 Ranger Farm Outlet will sell key categories of F&V and Staples across 200
outlets (Launching 50 in Sept 08)
 The average store size planned is 2000 Sq. Ft
 F&V will be procured at ABCs and routed through CPPs across 20 Cities
 RF outlet will service Push cart vendors, Small Retailers, Bulk Buyers and
Grocers
 The selling ratio between F&V and Staples will be dependent on the store
catchment
 The merchandising and category management of Staples will lie with the
staples organisation
 Rollout is basis multiplication of unit P&L by number of outlets
 City rollout is on a cluster approach

Reliance’s Agri Business
 No. of Locations : 28
 Covered area : 1 million sq ft
 Ripening Capacity : 284 MT/day
 Cold Store : 1430 MT
 Processing Lines (Wyma)
 Number : 10
 Capacity : 2000 MT/day
 Cut Veg
 Locations : 14
 Capacity : 43 MT/day
VALUE ADDED BUSINESS – FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Reliance’s Agri Business
 Basic vegetables business will offer
technically processed high –quality
Potato/Onions
 Value addition by Sorting /
Grading / Washing
 Establishing a distinct product
offering
 Basic vegetables processing network
will cover 10 CPC locations where hi-
tech processing lines are being
installed
 Each line has a capacity of 200
MT/day
 At present, 3 lines are already
installed
VALUE ADDED BUSINESS – BASIC VEGETABLES PROCESSING

Reliance’s Agri Business
AGRI PROJECTS
Involvement of Farmers in increasing the area & productivity of fruits &
vegetable with advanced technologies
Current Status:
Banana Project : Orissa
Banana & Papaya Project : Madhya Pradesh
Project in planning:
Protected Cultivation : Nashik
The team also run Agri demonstration farm in Nagpur, which act as a
demo farm for farmers of catchment region

Reliance’s Rural Business Hubs
 Pioneering in India - an all inclusive rural format
 Comprehensively addresses socio-economic aspects within the catchment
 4 Axis of business
 Wholesale – retail
 Target Consumers: Local Retailers
 Agri procurement
 Services (mostly outsourced)
 Agri Inputs
 Education: vocational training
 Entertainment: low cast-digital movies
 Dhaba: local vendor, basic level
 MFT: insurance, farmer loans, micro-credit
 Health: basic health clinic with path-lab
 RED & CSR
 Promote local enterprises by backward and forward linkages
 Livelihood Creation & Farmer Engagement Programmes

Reliance’s Rural Business Hubs

Reliance’s Agri Business
RURAL BUSINESS HUB – THE CONCEPT
 It is an ‘All under One Roof’ (AUOR) format
 RBH will be positioned as a platform with “transformational” potential for rural
prosperity.
 RBH will be establish in rural Tehsils with catchment of about 60,000 farm and non- farm
families.
 RBH will be a 2 way access platform to ‘buy from’ and ‘sell to’ the Rural communities, a
range of farm produce, goods and services
 RBH will be more a ‘Destination’ than a place to buy & sell.
 Geographically the RBH will have a catchment Radii of 15 kms, which will encompass
about 200 villages, with 70,000 hectares of land.
 Completed RBH network will have a reach of about 4 Crore farmers (45% of Indian
farmers), access to farm production of 55% and rural consumption of 40%.
 The coverage basis benchmarks will mean setting up about 1,600 RBHs, having an
average size of 1.5 to 3 acre for commercial purpose, out of the total 7-9 acre
 The RBH will have a total Retail Space of 18Mn Sft, procurement handling / storage
space of 33mn Sft & a land area of 2500 Acres.

Reliance’s Agri Business
RURAL BUSINESS HUB – Business Principles
 Build an emotional Connect with the community :-
 Through transformational services
 By building a personalized relationship with the farmer as an
individual.
 Providing employment opportunities to local youth.
 One Stop shop for all farm and non farm needs.
 Build business sustainability through:
 Multiple revenue streams
 Building business around a core set of customers from R1,
R2 & R3 SEC’s.
 Develop franchisee business with entrepreneurs/ educated youth in
the local community.

Reliance’s Rural Business Hubs
 RBH Architecture
 Low capex and opex model
 Cost reduction: a constant endeavor
 Big-box design, with double ceiling height
 Inventory and merchandise under one roof
 Modular fittings and fixtures
 Natural sources of energy preferred
 RBH Status
 Pilot project on in Gujarat (5 locations) and Madhya Pradesh
(Pandhurna)
 Land acquisition for 4 locations in advanced stages
 Design finalized
 Team on ground
 Business plan for Modasa prepared

Peshwa.acharya@gmail.com
cell- 9867641038