Rural India offers a huge untapped potential for marketers. This article presents the facts and outlines the characteristics pertaining to the Indian rural market. It also focuses on the reasons for rural marketing being an attractive proposition. It delineates some of the initiatives taken by companies for reaching the Indian rural consumers.

India's rural market is gaining increasing importance day by day, mainly because of the large population and its gradually increasing purchasing power. Before launching a product in the rural market, it is important to conduct a proper market research and analyze the same to ensure that the product, its features and design suits the rural community's requirements. Most Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies in India are introducing customized products specially for rural areas. Thus, the sale of FMCG products in rural markets is growing at a fast pace, even faster than that in the urban markets.

The economies of India and China have a huge untapped market for better products/services. Both have large rural population. Many multinational companies are keen on entering India and China because of the demand for new products/services by the countries' gigantic populations, accompanied with workforce or labor support for production and marketing. The Indian rural market is influenced by various sociological and behavioral aspects. India's rural population accounts for around 70% of the total population. Rural marketing can bring in higher revenues because the rural population is much larger than the urban population and much of the rural market remains untapped. The rural market is assuming importance also because of market saturation in urban areas. The urban market is crowded with many companies and stiff competition. Thus, supply is more than demand.

Marketing Mastermind Magazine, Indian Rural Consumers, Indian Rural Market, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, FMCG, Multinational Companies, MNCs, Rural Marketing, Urban Market, FMCG Products, Agricultural Tools, Marketing Communications, Consumer Goods, Decision Makers, National Council for Applied Economic Research, NCAER, Reuters Market Light, State Government Schemes, Micro-finance Organizations.