UNDERSTANDING THE INDIAN CONSUMER AND MARKET

I. COURSE OVERVIEW

India is at the cusp of a marketing revolution, one that will allow industries to
move rapidly up the value chain and unlock huge brand potential. This will
empower consumers by providing them with a wider choice of better products
and will act as a catalyst for the growth and development of several major
industries.
All this will require enormous commitment from marketers to develop world class
marketing in India. This further entails a deeper and empathetic understanding of
customers in the very many tiers that exist in India.

II. LEAR

NING OUTCOMES

1. To introduce India & its people to students

2. To understand the nuances and various facets of India: urban & rural; rich and
poor; literate & illiterate; secular & religious: political & social & past & the future
3. To help the students to understand the psyche of the Indian consumer-
specially in Tier II & Tier III cities
4. To help the students apply this understanding in decision making about
business & marketing in India.
5. To understand models that work in Tier II & Tier III markets

III. SESSION DETAILS

Session Topic Readings

1&2 India and its People • India from midnight to the
millennium : Shashi Tharoor
• The Indians: Portrait of a
people : Sudhir Kakaar
3&4 India Demographics • We are like that only : Rama
Bijapurkar
• Consumer market
demographics in India : S L Rao.
• The Marketing whitebook:
Business World
 5&6 Socio – Economic • We are like that only : Rama
classification Bijapurkar
Agricultural/ Rural/ • The Marketing whitebook:
Industry Business World
7&8 Schizophrenic India: • Imagining India : Nandan
Many Indias evolving Nilekani
differently • We are like that only : Rama
Bijapurkar
• Inspite of Gods: The rise of
India : Edward Luce
9&10 Logic of Indian • We are like that only : Rama
Consumers Bijapurkar
• India Unbound : Gurcharn
Das
• Inspite of Gods: The rise of
India : Edward Luce
11&12 Business Models that • Fortune at the bottom of the
work in Tier II/ Tier III Pyramid : C K Prahalad
• We are like that only : Rama
Bijapurkar

IV. BOOKS AND REFERENCES

We Are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India

Author: Rama Bijapurkar
Publisher: Penguin Books

Consumer Market Demographics in India

Author: S.L.Rao
Publisher: NCAER

Marketing to the Indian Youth:Trends and Opportunities

Author: Amitabha Ghosh
Publisher: ICFAI University Press

The Marketing Whitebook

Author : multiple author
Publication : Business World

India from Midnight to the Millenium

Author : Shashi Tharoor
Publication : Arcade Publishing
In spite of Gods : The rise of India
Author : Edward Luce
Publication : Anchor Books

The Indians : Portrait of a people

Author : Sudhir kakaar
Publication : Anchor Books

India Unbound
Author : Gurucharan Das
Publication : Anchor Books

Imagining India
Author : Nandan Nilekani
Publication : Penguin Books

The Idea of India

Author : Sunit Khilnani
Publication : Farrar Straus Giroux

Discovery of India
Author : Jawahar Lal Nehru
Publication : Anchor Books

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Author: C. K. Prahlad
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing

Session 1-2

India and its people

- India as nation – its myth and idea- pre and post 1991 India
- Impression of Indian Society and culture today
- Major themes of independent India
- Political and Economic, social and cultural change
- Social structure
- Indian culture and Authority
- The web of family life
Session 3-4-5-6

Demographics and socio- economic classification

-trends in demographics in last 30 years

- spending patterns across SECs
- Demographic determinants of consumer India
-Rural society and urban prosperity-poverty line

-Migration and consumption

-consumption data vs income data
-demand structure of consumer India

Session 7-8
Many Indias evolving differently

← -the changing face of consumer India

← - Urban – rural market and differences
← -rural consumer India
← - ubiquitous middle class India
← --young India , women India

Session 9-10

Logic of Indian Consumers

- A mosaic of tradition and modernity

- Amalgamation of the old and the new
- Consumer India ‘s confluence of change
- The DNA of Indian Consumer
- This as well as that also
- Change with continuity
- The liberalization’s impact on India’s culture
- Indian and western values
- India is a multi-tiered and multi-layered Market

Session- 11-12

Business models that work in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities

-Understanding the “bottom of pyramid “consumer India

-Characteristics of the BOP consumer