“The future lies with those companies who see the poor as their customers” says C.K. Prahald, one of the prominent management gurus. The rural India is no more an isolated phenomenon but a dream land of opportunities to the marketers all over world in a dismal urban scenario where markets are saturated and margins are shrinking. In an area where technology is bringing in new products every now then with strict adherence to quality, marketers all over the world are bound to go for greener pastures. What else can be more promising than rural India where 53% of FMCG and 59% of the durables are consumed by the 74.6 core rural population with its per capita income doubling by 2012! KPMG ranks India second on GRD index.
India is changing very fast. We see the marks of the great change that the forces of globalization and liberation have imprinted on our cities, its people and the rural India. As the economy was poised for this giant leap, the government, boosted by overall revenue generation, growth of GDP, rapid industrialization, business expansion, the spread of education and technology went ahead boldly with various schemes benefiting the rural populace. The gradual awakening on the part of rural India and its changing face has attracted the attention of national and international industries and business houses to tap this huge untapped potential. Another reason for this important shift was the increase in the purchasing power of lower and middle class segments of the society including the rural populace. Media revolution too played a key role in synthesizing rural India with their urban counter parts. The rising aspirations, new hopes and new found confidence urged rural populace to adapt to the new life styles of the twenty first century.
There were times when a number of problems were plaguing India. A country with the second largest population in the world and major chunk of the population depending on a poorly equipped agriculture, India Imported grains from major economies in the world to feed the huge population. India cut a poor figure on the world map. The same country, once viewed as huge liability for the world, is poised to become the second fastest developing economy. Experts at home and abroad are agog to see such an astounding metamorphosis. Today they are unanimous in saying that the rising clout of rural India and its huge middle class hold a great promise for Indian economy in particular and for the world economy in general.
Viewed against this promising scenario of emerging rural India, the publication of “Emerging Trends at the Bottom End of Pyramid” has a unique significance as it provides intellectual capital in the form of a wide spectrum of research papers that present a treasure of data. As the years pass, we are bound to face many challenges on the road to rural marketing. All reputed industries and business houses are in the process of formulating their strategies to cater to the rural market in the best way possible. This is going to be a different ball game altogether as rural populace has a different mind set, their needs, expectations and life styles are different. Here lies a great challenge for all those big brands to customize their products to suit the rural tastes.
In short, “Emerging Trends at the Bottom End of Pyramid” serves the most important purpose of dissemination of knowledge and what else can be the better way than publishing quality research in a book form. “Research begets more research” is literally true because this motivates academic fraternity to go the research way and make a potential contribution to the development of the society through providing intellectual capital to tackle the challenges society, in general, is facing. This book makes a very interesting reading. Research is really a stupendous task for the researchers to collect relevant data and put it in the research format. All their attempts have been extremely fruitful as you acutely realize the hard efforts researchers put into carrying forward the research.
Contents –
PART A: RURAL MARKET — OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES
1. Changing Marketing Environment and its Impact on Rural Marketing in 21st Century – Mrs. Anupama Nerurkar
2. Rural Retail Marketing Scenario in India – Dr. Rashmi Sharma
3. Rural Marketing: Opportunities & Challenges – Dr. Sanjit Kumar Dash
4. Scope and Challenges of Rural Marketing in India – Mr. Arvind A. Dhond
5. Rural Marketing — The Way Ahead
6. Rural Markets and Retail 2011 – Dr. Binod Kumar Sinha
7. Rural Marketing: Opportunities and Challenges – Asst. Prof. A. BalaSubramanian
8. Fortune in Rural India — A Changing Paradigm – Prof. Vijaya Jacquiline, Ms. Pradnya Mhamunkar
9. Rural Marketing: Opportunities and Challenges to Corporate Sector – Dr. A.B. Adsule
10. Rural Retailing – Dr. Elizabeth Mathews
11. Global HRM: The Challenges – Prof. Dr. Arjita Jain
12. Big Opportunity of Logistic in Rural Area – Prof. Deepal D. Mukkawar, Prof. Ram Reddy
13. Rural Education — Causes of Stress Among Rural Students – Ms. Eesha S. Barai
14. Retailing — The New Vistas in Rural India – Mr. Ajit N. Jadhav, Ms. Amita C. Koli, Mrs. Amrita A. Jadhav
PART – B: MICROFINANCE & ITS ROLE IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
15. Commercialization of Microfinance — An Indian Scenario – Mr. Sachin Chauhan
16. Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of Micro Finance in India – Dr. Mahalaxmi Krishnan, Mrs. Darshana D. Kadwadkar, Mrs. Usha Bhandare
17. Microfinance: The Sole Tool for Rural Economic Independence – Mr. Sudeep Saxena, Mrs. Neha Sudeep Saxena
18. Financial Inclusion through Rural Marketing – Dr. Seethalekshmy N., Mr. Jitendra Aherkar
19. Microfinance in Rural India — Business Opportunities and Challenges for Private Sector – Mrs. Sonali Deogirikar
20. Critical Analysis of Microfinance in India with Special Reference to Rural Markets – Dr. Kinnarry Thakkar, Mr. Amit K. Prajapati
21. Challenges of Microfinance in Rural Market – Prof. Virendra, Prof. Santosh Vadhrya
22. Impact of Microfinance and Self Help Groups (SHG) on Rural Market Development – Dr. Keshav Y. Shinde, Asst. Prof. S.K. Khamkar
23. Evaluation of Microfinance in Rural Microenterprise Development – Dr. Subhash Dattatray Pawar
24. Women Empowerment through Microfinance – Prof. Madhavi Nighoskar
25. A Macro View of Microfinance Sector in India – Mrs. Jenny Sabu
26. Impact of Microfinance on Rural Marketing – Mr. Hinduja Srichand P.
27. Microfinance for Rural Market Development – Dr. Sanjay Kaptan
28. Developing Suitable Financial Products for Rural India – Dr. Vidya Tikute, Dr. Yashodhan Mithare
29. Marketing of Financial Services to the Rural Women: The Women’s Access to Financial Services – Asst. Prof. Gajanan Mudholkar
30. Broad Sectors like Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI) Microfinance & its impact on the Rural Markets – Prof. Thomson Varghese, Prof. Santosh Kulkarni, Prof. Clifford D’souza
31. Health Finance and Insurance for Rural Poor of India: A Review
PART C: DESIGNING MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR RURAL MARKET
32. Facets for Marketing the Fertilisers: An Empirical Study – Dr. H.S. Cheema, Mr. Gowri Shankar
33. Frugal Innovation — A Success Mantra for the Rural Marketing – Ritu Sinha
34. Value Offering in Rural Markets — New Strategies and Approaches – Dr. Y.R. Waghmare
35. Adapting Marketing Mix for Rural India: An Insight into FMCG Sector – Prof. Vikram Parekh, Dr. Pradip Manjrekar
36. Rural Communication – Prof. Dr. Roundal Sitaram Rangnath
37. I.C.T. in Rural India and in Internet Security – Mr. Vinod Moreshwar Vaze
38. An Evaluation of Impact of SHG on the Social Empowerment of Women in Maharashtra – Dr. Sapna Modi, Prof. Seema Sharma, Prof. Mudassar Khan
39. Brand Construct Using Imagery to Create Brand Identity in Rural Markets – Dr. Ramkishen Y., Co-Authors: (1) Ms. Divya Singh, (2) Ms. Meenal Dubey
40. Research on New Design of Instrument to Collect Primary Data from Rural Area for Marketing Research – Prof. Devika Shinde
41. Effect of Emotional Intelligence in Branding on Rural Customers – Dr. Ashish Sharma, Dr. Hitendra Bargal
42. Reshaping the Support System for Marketing of Agricultural Produce – Prof. Dr Shamim Ahmad, Dr. Khan Ashfaq Ahmad, Mr. Tufail Ahmad Khan
43. Supply Chain Management [SCM] Effect of Organised Vegetable Retailing on Farmers – Lion Dr. Nishikant Jha
44. Post-harvest Management for Export of Cut Roses from Pune Region – Mr. A.A. Ajgaonkar and Dr. B.N. Pawar
45. Role of Self Help Groups in Rural Marketing – Mr. Ankit Singh, Mr. Jitendra Aherkar
46. Role of Self Help Group (Bachat Gat) in Development of Rural Economy – Prof. Sanjaykumar J. Patil, Ms. Yogita J. Patil
47. A Study of Existing Legal and Regulatory Framework for Self Help Groups in Pune district – Asst. Prof. Wani Nalanda D.
48. Rural Marketing: An Introspection of the Strategies followed in Rural India by the FMCG Giant — Hindustan Lever Ltd. – Dr. Bernadette D’Silva, Dr. Stephen D’Silva, Mrs. Sweta Menon
PART – D: CASE STUDIES
49. Microenterprise Development Interventions: Case Studies from Maharashtra – Ms. Nisha Bharti
50. A Study of Challenges in Rural Market for Life Insurance Companies – Mr. Kamalkar N. Munde
51. Impact of National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (NREGS) on the Rural Poor Households of Manipur – Dr. Thiyam Singh harat
52. Study on Current Environment Changes in Agricultural and Rural Tourism in India – Dr. Anil Mishra, Mr. Abhishek Saraf
53. Globally Competitive MSMEs: An Engine for Future Growth of India Inc. – Prof. Sonal Dabke
54. Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Co-efficient for Standard of Customer Services in MSC Bank – Mr. Anil Matkar
55. Role of National Service Scheme in Rural Management: A Case Study of Village Shivali, Tal. Maval, Dist. Pune – Dr. Nitin Ghorpade, Dr. Savita Kulkarni
56. The Marketing Strategies for Untapped Rural Market with STP Analysis: A Case Study of Bharati Airtel Rural Strategy – Gajanan Mudholkar
