This article attempts to look at poverty a bit differently from traditional point of view. For India, a home to the largest population of poor in the world, it is an ongoing challenge. For businesses in India, capturing this population as a market, aptly referred to as the "Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP)", represents even a greater challenge. The fact that the ¡§bottom¡" part of our population can be treated as a market can be understood by the successes of many innovations in our country. This article examines some of the reasons why the BOP market has been left unexplored and the problems that have to be tackled. It also assesses some simple ways in which the BOP can be treated as a potential market, with consumers having their own opinions and convincingly concludeswith few simple steps that can lead to a new road from poverty to opportunity.

Poverty has always been one of the biggest problems that India has faced over the years. It has been there since independence and it is still very muchthere even after almost 60 years of freedom. India still has the world's largest number of poor people in a single country. Efforts have been madetowards the alleviation of poverty in India but these have failed to completely eradicate poverty. However, they can not be counted as complete failures either, thanks to the recent emergence and dominance of a whole new segment/ strata of so-called "middle class population", that was virtuallyabsent at the time of independence. But, it can be said that the distribution of wealth in India has not been symmetric. India's way of dealing with this problem has been predominantly one with pity and donations. But it is really a question of how large the donations should be to reduce the poverty.Poverty can be described as a state or condition where there is a lack in the well-being of people. As per the International Board for Reconstruction and Development (2000-2001, 15), being poor is ¡§to be hungry, to lack shelter and clothing, to be sick and not cared for, to be illiterate and not schooled". Apart from the lack of food, clothing and shelter, they are also meted out unfair treatment by the state and the society, and they really do not have muchpower or opportunity to voice their opinions and grievances.

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