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.

Indias 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.

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."

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.
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

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.
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.
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.

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.


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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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

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

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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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 headmans house or post office.
The brand was well accepted by the rural consumer.
The marketer who seeks to modify the behaviour
of the rural consumer needs to influence the
consumers 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 patternsa red soap cake signifies
Lifebuoy soap.
Conventional wisdom on rural marketing believes
that the villager craves, but cant 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 Ushas premier Century brand,
though it was priced 20 per cent higher.
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
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.
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.
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

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
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.

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
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.
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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 countryTanjore,
Ludhiana, Burdwan and Kolhapurrevealed 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.
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.
In terms of their coverage of population and their
share in total supply of agricultural inputs,
including credit, Cooperatives occupy an important
place in Indias 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.
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.
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.
Network Marketing: Network marketing is a form of
direct selling. It can take place at two levels.
Single leveldistributor 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.
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,
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.

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.


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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.


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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.