ISB Marketing Summit looks Beyond Rich India

Reckoning India's growth as a global economy, this year the Marketing Club at the Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, themed their annual flagship event ikshaa as 'Beyond Rich India. Lower Income Segments - A Marketing Opportunity' at the ISB last week.

The Summit brought together prominent industry leaders and marketing experts, who shared their diverse, forward-looking perspectives on pertinent issues those marketers in emerging economies face today.

In his welcome note, Deputy Dean Ajit Rangnekar said that the ISB thrives on diversity with special focus on emerging markets.

The purpose of ikshaa thus was to bring the two characteristics together.

"India has the richest portfolio and the Indian growth story is hotting up, especially in the FMCG sector," said keynote speaker Douglas Baillie, CEO Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Conveying the fact that Unilever has deep roots in developing countries, which generated 40 percent of the revenues. He added that in today's market digitalisation, co-creation, scale and sustainability is inevitable.

"Co-creation with customers is one big opportunity. As for scale - would you lend 50 million to one person or lend $1 to 50 million people", he asked.

He also shared that in India, rural consumption levels are on the rise and that created a new class of consumers with unique, new needs. "To approach this new class we need to follow a top down approach", he said.

The panel deliberated on the multi-faceted challenges - infrastructure, technology, vast geographic reach, diverse cultures and consumer mindset that these companies have to face and on re-thinking of strategies to successfully address this segment.

Head of Marketing, Reliance Communication Sanjay Behl said, "The business of mobile phones in India is relevant to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). In the next 3-5 years, everyone in India will walk and talk.

The main concern however is availability and affordability." Reliance, he said was aiming to move from population coverage to landmass coverage in the next six months.

Reliance's approach to crack the BoP, he said, was to provide cheaper handsets, share infrastructure with other operators and partner with government.