Reminiscing the Rural Stint

The Rural Marketing sessions at Northpoint brought to light new perspectives. Right from the start, the fact that rural India brings with it the task to address around 700 million potential customers; add to that the diversity of our nation- it all seemed very challenging. It exposed us to new forms of reaching out to this audience which made the learning both exciting & interesting at the same time.

Today the Rural consumer is as discerning as his Urban counterpart. Through the theory sessions we learnt that with the explosion of print & electronic media in the villages, continuing education & the general all-round economic growth there has been tremendous growth in villages. Consequently, all this has led to an increase in literacy levels; also a shift in purchase decisions taking place has been observed. The present day rural woman is not restricted to household chores or the four walls of the house, today she is in the market place making choices of textiles & provisions and not just that; she is also driving choices. Through initiatives like the project Shakti of HLL, few women become ‘dealers’/ ‘distributors’ of HLL products. Thus benefiting the company by sales & the woman generates income while simultaneously becoming self reliant.

Having uncovered these insightful lessons, I set out for the rural stint to Jaipur. There our task was to study the banking habits of the villagers and to come up with ways by which a popular bank could increase the footfalls in that region.

However during the field trip we unearthed a rather bleak state of affairs in most of the villages around Jaipur. Here the farmers still relied on petty money-lenders or their family for loans. They were averse to the banking habit due to the formalities of the system. They mentioned high interest rates, the need to mortgage the land, the requirement of a guarantor & a limited pay-back period as some of the reasons why they perceived banking unfavorably.

However what works for them is the presence of Co-Operative schemes such as the Gramin Sahakari Samiti. One farmer described it as, “Kisano ki banayi gayi, Kisano ke liye.” Under this scheme a group of farmers would come together & pool in money. This would then be used up by the farmers depending upon the needs. This was also perceived favorably as it enabled them to not only purchase seeds & fertilizers; but also to store them.

At the end of the field trip we realized that there was a huge need for a change in the mindset required. The rural folk needed to know about the banking facilities. We needed to communicate to them about the different Bank schemes & benefits that they could avail of & so we devised strategies accordingly about how this could be brought about.

And finally, looking back at the rural stint, I can definitely say that it has been one of the most thought provoking & enriching learning experiences at Northpoint.


So here’s cheers to the hinterland……..Rural Marketing is here to stay!!!!


Stephanie