Rural India on top!

Rural internet penetration in India is expected to have grown by 98 per cent by the end of 2011 over last year to touch 24 million users going by the very recent report released jointly by Internet Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau! While most rural users access the internet from public centres such as cybercafés and ITC's e-choupals — entertainment and communication make up the top reasons for rural India to surf the cyberspace at 41 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

On the other hand, mobile handset and service providers are looking at the same population for future growth given that according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority, urban users have touched tele-density of about 100 per cent. However, the mobile phone industry is busy targeting the rural market with low cost handsets coupled with cheaper operator services on the assumption that data services are not of interest to this group who are only looking for lowest cost voice services. If one were to join the dots, it would seem like there is a demand-supply gap yearning to be discovered somewhere there - super cheap mobile data services on phones with long battery life.

While it may be some time until those two dots converge to change information consumption, marketers and communicators should start rethinking their approach even before the wave truly hits them. The internet would provide an efficient platform to deliver hitherto complex messages and experiences in a manner that goes beyond print and broadcast media, which were challenged by both the levels of literacy and the erratic pattern of adequate electric supply.

According to Mart, a New Delhi-based research organisation that offers rural solutions to the corporate world, rural India, as far back as in 2007 accounted for 46 per cent of all soft drinks sold, 49 per cent of motorcycles and 59 per cent of cigarettes. This trend was not limited to just utilitarian products: 11 per cent of rural women used lipstick. Colour televisions, while still low in terms of numbers, were recording high double-digit growth in these markets as well. There don't seem to be any recent numbers updating this study — however the pattern can only be assumed to have sustained.

It's not difficult to guess that in the near future the Indian FMCG, consumer goods and the telecom markets would expect their highest growth from small towns and the rural sector. What would distinguish the men from the boys would be not just the old mantras for rural marketing: distribution and simplicity of messaging; but also of their ability to adapt to the newer information consumption patterns of Gen Y rural India.

— The writer is Managing Director, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. She is a seasoned communications strategist consulting across sectors using the company’s bespoke Integrated Influence model