Up until recently, large part of the marketing that was done in this country was done, targeting the urban population of the country. Now the marketing potential of the rural part of the country is rapidly growing. Let us get an understanding of the urban and rural break up of the country.
26% of the population lives in the cities or in urban India. The remaining 74% lives in the villages or in rural India. The population of the country is spread over the villages but is very concentrated in the cities. India has six of the largest cities in the world. These are - Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Besides these cities, there are six other cities that are growing at a very rapid rate and have a huge concentration of the population. These are - Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Pune, Nagpur, Lucknow and Jaipur. In addition to these cities, there are around 4000 towns that have concentrations of the population.
In the cities, there are a lot of jobs available now-a-days due to call centers and BPO's. This has given many more people purchasing power. Items that were luxury items a few years a go are seen in every house in the cities.
Besides the cities 74% of Indian population lives in the villages. As the standard of living in the villages also improves, many modern facilities are available in almost every house hold in the villages too.
Now a days the TV is there in most of the houses in the villages too. This has exposed them to a lot of advertising lifestyles and products. The villages have become a huge market that will be of great consequence in the near future. In the future, companies with a strong product distribution system reaching all the villages will have a very strong advantage over the rest.
The country is growing, and is a place where business will thrive in the near future. To understand this better consider the following favorable shifts that have taken place in the consumer patters of buying.