In between India?s urban hubs and rural centres, lies a third sizeable marketing opportunity. Home to around 129 million people or 38% of India ?s urban population, representing an aggregate household income of almost Rs 7 lakh crore and clocking a countrywide consumer expenditure of at least Rs 5 lakh crore, it hasn?t exactly gone under the marketers? radar. If anything, this segment has been affected strangely by a cacophony of descriptions and nomenclature.
Peri-urban markets have been variously clubbed under umbrella terms such as tier-I, II, III or IV centres or small towns, depending on the marketers? diverse industry criteria. A new study by Indicus Analytics, Market Skyline of India ?Towns and Rural Blocks, looks to overcome this confusion, and classify these markets based on the size of the population. None of the 4,600 peri-urban markets in the country, for instance, has population in excess of 1 lakh as per Census 2001. The segment is further divided into four sub-categories: There are 1,182 very small towns (5,001-12,000 population), 1,117 small towns (12,001-20,000), 1,206 medium-sized towns (20,001-35,000) and 1,160 large towns (35,001-99,999).
The segment also accounts for 9,81,000 millionaire households, out of a total of 5.4 million such households across the country. This compares well with just over a million such households in the metros and 1.3 million in the country?s 6 lakh-plus villages.
For Subhash Chandra of Hodal in Faridabad district, Haryana, the increased focus on trading centres such as his hometown has had a more immediate impact. It has meant wider choice in segments from consumer goods and automobiles to lifestyle products. Chandra recently traded in his 20-year-old Kelvinator refrigerator for a 185-litre LG model. He adds that town-dwellers are now ?spoilt for choice? when it comes to purchasing items such as white goods.
Peri-urban markets also comprise the segment that helped consumer product companies and automakers in India report gains at a time when most corporates feared the effects the global financial crisis might have on their bottomlines.