FEATURES OF RURAL CONSUMERS
The features found in the rural consumers are discussed below:
¾ Location pattern: Practically, the whole of India, barring the metros and towns,
constitutes the Indian rural market. In other words, the market is spread through
the length and breadth of the vast country.
¾ A scattered market: It is thus evident that the rural market of India is a
geographically scattered market. Whereas the urban population of India is
concentrated in 3,200 cities and towns, the rural population is scattered across
570,000 villages. And, of them, only 6,300 villages, or less than 1.1 per cent, have
a population of more than 5,000 each. More than 3 lakh villages, or more than 55
per cent of the total number of villages, are in the category of 500 people or less
and more than 1.5 lakh villages, or 25 per cent, are in the category of 200 people
or less. The inference is clear; unlike urban demand, which is highly concentrated,
rural demand is scattered over a large area.
¾ Socio-economic position: By and large, rural consumers continue to be marked
by low purchasing power/low per capita income. Similarly, they continue to be a
tradition-bound community, with religion, culture and tradition strongly
influencing their consumption habits. However, as we shall see in detail in this
chapter, a sizeable segment of rural consumers defy this description.
Nearly 60 per cent of rural income comes from agriculture. Rural prosperity and
discretionary income with rural consumers are thus linked to sizeable extent with
agricultural prosperity. More than half the households are in the income category
of less than Rs 25,000 per annum, but about 14 per cent of the households have an
annual income that exceeds Rs 50,000 per annum. Remittances from Indians
working outside have made a sizeable contribution to the growing rural
income/purchasing power in some states. Analysis reveals that, in recent years,
rural consumers have been increasingly drawn into the savings habit. Nearly, 70
percent of rural households now save a part of their income. The habit is
relatively more widespread among salary earners like government staff, teachers,
and self-employed non-farmers, who include in the main, shopkeepers and service
providers.
¾ Culturally a Diverse and Heterogeneous Market: The rural market is not only
a scattered market, but is also diverse and heterogeneous. Rural consumers are
diverse in terms of religious, social, cultural and linguistic factors. The diversity is
manifest in a more intense manner among the rural segments. It can be said that
heterogeneity is the No. I hallmark of the rural market- 5, 70,000 villages, half a
dozen religions, 33 languages, 1,650 dialects and diverse sub-cultures characterize
the market.
¾ State-to-State Variation in Extent of Development: There is also a great deal of
difference between different states in extent of development. It varies on various
parameters, such as availability of health and education facilities, availability of
public transport, electricity. TV transmission, banks, post offices, water supply
and so on. A weight was decided upon for each facility based on the relative
importance of that facility in indicating the extent of development of the village.
While the average village in India has 33 development index points, villages in
Kerala had an average of 88 points while those in Bihar had just 22; Mp,
Rajasthan and UP were close to Bihar; and states like Maharastra, Haryana,
Karnataka had points ranging between 40 and 50.
¾ Literacy Level: It has been estimated that rural India has a literacy rate of 28
percent compared with 55 per cent for the whole country. The rate is certainly on
the low side. However, such statistics do not reveal the whole picture. A number
of aspects as shown below need to be emphasized specifically with regard to rural
literacy. The picture has been changing over the years. For example, a decade
ago, the literacy rate in rural India was only 20 per cent. Year-to-year too, there is
a change. Every year about eight million people get added to rural India’s literate
population. The adult literacy programmes launched in the rural areas are bound
to enhance the rural literacy rate in the years to come. In absolute numbers,
already there are more literate people in rural India (16.5 crore) than in urban
India (16 crore). The picture also differs from state to state and even from district
to district.
¾ Lifestyle: By and large, the rural consumers are marked by a conservative and
tradition-bound lifestyle. But, what is striking today about this matter is not the
basic conservative characteristic, but the fact that the lifestyle is undergoing a
significant change. The lifestyle of a sizeable segment of rural consumers has
already changed significantly in recent years, and that of a much larger segment is
currently going through the process of change. As such, the earlier practice of
bracketing all rural consumers as people with a tradition-bound lifestyle does not
hold good in the new context.
¾ Buying Behavior: To understand the b