The seminar which was organised by the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) has noted that there is a growing increase in income levels for both persons engaged in farm and off-farm activities in rural areas. As agriculture has already emerged as a business, there is an urgent need for proper input-output management. The productivity of agricultural crops is on the increase and there is a growing diversification in agriculture. Against this backdrop of economic growth in rural areas, the companies need to take advantage by developing scientific and strategic policies for penetrating rural markets. There needs to be adequate interaction between urban and rural areas too.Speaking to The Financial Express, the former director of Philips India Ltd, S Pandit stated that as there is a disparity in income levels and purchasing powers between the urban and rural dwellers, companies should try to increase the liquidity in rural areas by extending the facilities for purchase through instalments or create avenues for extension of loans.

Jagjit Singh, executive president of IMM also told The Financial Express that there is a latent demand for goods and services in rural areas. Good marketing has to just translate this demand by taking advantage of the situation.

Pandit who was a speaker in the seminar stated that: ``Indian rural marketing desperately needs a new paradigm of systematic distribution of scientific marketing, which would act as a magic formula for the small and scattered (consumer) possessing the power of the big, to cover the total spectrum of a classical market mix.''

He claimed that marketing is a technology and not a ``scientific chauvinism'' and therefore, theremust be a full application of this technology to rural areas as in the case of urban areas, without any dilution. But Pandit admitted that rural markets are scattered, small in terms of individual point of sale, away from centres of vocational training and do not have good after sales service.

He, therefore, suggested the creation of a strong franchising centre in a nearby semi-urban area with well-trained hub-and-spoke units in rural areas. The franchising centre should conduct market research to fix the consumer image, design a simple but elegant show room made for this particular category of rural consumer and set up a workshop with regular refresher courses for product knowledge, trouble shooting, repairs and supply of spare parts.

Speaking on the occassion, KK Vaisoha, professor at IMM said that all rural marketing campaigns need to be carried out in local languages using important local symbols, colours and preferences. Rural marketing also needs to take into account local government policies andstudy the paying and buying capacity of local people. Companies should themselves set up sales outlets-much like the petroleum companies.

Another professor at IMM, MC Kapoor suggested that an appropriate study comparing the number of middle class households in rural areas and in the country in general, is necessary for undertaking rural marketing.