India is on the threshold of a retail revolution in the rural areas. According to McKinsey and Co., a global consulting firm, India's rural market will touch $500 bn by 2020. This article examines the current retailing landscape in rural India, its evolution and various formats, changes in the retail mix, the principal drivers for growth, critical success factors, challenges and prospects.

Nearly 70% of Indians, who constitute 12% of the world's consumers, reside in 5,70,000 plus villages. Meager and erratic levels of income and lack of infrastructure have so far kept away many marketers from this domain. However, a slew of measures to augment the income of the rural mass as well as to improve substantially the rural infrastructure, together with stagnation in urban markets, have shifted the spotlight to the rural markets.

Rise in the purchasing power and overall literacy, exposure to urban influence and electronic media have had tremendous influence on the rural psyche. The rural people are now willing to spend on branded products whether regional, national or internationalthereby throwing up tremendous opportunities for the corporate sector, to push their retail trade. Responding to this emerging demand, the first rural mall under the banner "Choupal Saagar" was established by the tobacco major, ITC. This was followed by the Tatas (Tata Kisan Sansar), Mahindra & Mahindra (Mahindra Shubhlabh and Mahindra Krishi Vihar) and DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd. (Hariyali Kisan Bazaars), to name a few.

Marketing Mastermind Magazine, Urban Markets, Rural Markets, Electronic Media, Social Communication, Care Foundation, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, NAFED, Indian Oil Corporation, IOC, Kisan Seva Kendra, KSK, Consumer Products.