AbstractMarketers have begun to give attention to the Indian rural market in this age of globalization, not only to serve the requirements of urban consumers with value, but also to serve the needs of rural customers. The Indian mobile sector is the fastest expanding in the world, with more mobile phone connections being added every month. The liberalization of communications regulations and policies has contributed to this development. According to a Gartner study, India will be Asia Pacific's fastest growing telephone market after China. Many marketers see the Indian rural market as a tremendous opportunity because of its size and demand base. Around 840 million people live in rural India, accounting for around 70% of the population, 600,000 villages, and 56% of national revenue. The rural market in India accounts for about half of the country's gross domestic product. The buying patterns of rural consumers are improving somewhat as their discretionary income rises. The fact why India has a large mobile phone market is owing to the country's large rural population. Marketers must develop strategies to capture the expanding rural market by first recognizing the requirements of rural customers, which vary from those of urban consumers in terms of affordability and tastes, and then attempting to offer those goods and services in order to make a profit. Companies must do thorough assessments while marketing to rural India. There are about 700 million mobile phone subscribers in India, with 320 million of them living in rural areas (How smartphones are penetrating deeper in rural India, 25th May 2015, the rural Marketing Journal). In the past four years, the rural market's mobile phone penetration has risen from 22 percent to 38 percent. This study is an effort to bridge the gap by focusing on the mobile phone as a possible market owing to its "critical" requirement in India's rural areas.
Manoj Agarwal (Fri,) studied this question.