"A search for buyers in India’s villages; Rural consumer spending rises" by Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post / April 3, 2011
NIMALIPURI, India — Battling the heat and dust in this remote village, a market researcher showed up at farmer Abdul Rehman’s door, plying him with questions about which brand of shampoo, toothpaste, hair oil, television, stereo system, and cellphone he uses.
Then the researcher asked Rehman, 35, something that most companies want to know about the rural Indian consumer: “What new products do you want to buy in the next six months?’’
Rehman perked up and said: “I want to buy a refrigerator, and my wife wants a microwave oven.’’
Rural India used to seem like Mars to market researchers, but now they are arduously combing through the countryside to scrutinize the consumption habits and aspirations of villagers like Rehman. Their findings, gathered over the past three years, could transform the how businesses look at the Indian market and offer hundreds of millions of new potential consumers.
Related:
"In India, 800 million people — three-fourths of the population — live in poverty."
Yes, the billionaires will save us all.
"Hunger is widespread in India. It is said that at least 50 million Indians are on the brink of starvation and over 200 million Indians are underfed"
Not consuming very much, are they?
Already companies from South Korea’s LG Electronics to US-based GE Healthcare are starting to tailor their strategies and products to reach this new, rural frontier.
“We have to bring health care to the masses at the prices they can afford,’’ said V. Raja, president of GE Healthcare South Asia.
But they can't take care of us, huh?
Look I want the Indians and ALL PEOPLE to have GOOD, DECENT health care!
Forgive me for doubting GE's integrity after their reactor design in Japan.
Also see: Cancer, HIV patients in India rap trade deal
Yeah, they really care about your health.
Rehman’s village, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, has no girls’ high school, and most people have bathrooms made of dried palm fronds. But hundreds of dish antennas sprout from thatched-roof homes, and Rehman rides a Honda motorcycle, watches soaps and pro wrestling on his flat-screen TV, and has switched to a low-fat cooking oil after watching a commercial.
Analysts say that with rising rural incomes, new roads, better education, televisions, and cellphones, India’s sleepy countryside of 740 million people is ready for takeoff....
Related(?): Sunday Globe Special: Indian He Said, She Said
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Look what other Indian door also opened:
"BP to pay $7.2b for stake in India’s energy fields " by New York Times / February 22, 2011
MUMBAI — British oil giant BP said yesterday that it would pay $7.2 billion to buy into India’s fast-growing oil and gas industry.
After 64 years, THEEEEE'RE BACK!!!!!
It is BP’s second big deal in two months, as it seeks to rebuild after last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill....
Aren't they making billions in profit every three months?
Last month, BP signed an agreement with Russia’s Rosneft to drill in the Arctic....
BP would gain access to reserves in India while offering its expertise in deep-sea drilling and its technology, said Christine Tiscareno, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s....
That's a joke, right?
BP’s US-born chief executive, Robert Dudley, is eager to steer his company on a new growth path after it was forced to sell assets to pay for the accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
Now it is an accident, not negligence. Sigh.
Its shares still trade well below their levels before the rig explosion last year.
Dudley has said he wants a “safer,’’ “smaller,’’ and “more agile’’ BP.
He has sought to reverse a drop in production by increasing investment and lining up 32 projects, including in Russia and Canada, for the next six years.
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Can't say BP was not warned:
"Incidents of industrial violence are common in India."
The Indians might have something there, although I'm sure Gandhi would have disapproved.
Those with no door left to open:
"Refugee camp blaze kills 21
GAUHATI — A fire tore through a refugee camp in northeastern India yesterday, killing 21 people and injuring about 100. A police superintendent said winds whipped the fire into a massive blaze that swept across the Nifingpara camp in Tripura state for three hours before firefighters brought it under control. Most of the thatched huts were destroyed in the remote camp, about 100 miles northeast of Tripura’s capital, Agartala. The camp was home to some 5,000 families from the minority Bru ethnic group, which in 1997 fled alleged persecution in neighboring Mizoram state.
Also see:
Faked records spur India to check pilots
Time for me to fly, readers.
"Incidents of industrial violence are common in India."
The Indians might have something there, although I'm sure Gandhi would have disapproved.
Those with no door left to open:
"Refugee camp blaze kills 21
GAUHATI — A fire tore through a refugee camp in northeastern India yesterday, killing 21 people and injuring about 100. A police superintendent said winds whipped the fire into a massive blaze that swept across the Nifingpara camp in Tripura state for three hours before firefighters brought it under control. Most of the thatched huts were destroyed in the remote camp, about 100 miles northeast of Tripura’s capital, Agartala. The camp was home to some 5,000 families from the minority Bru ethnic group, which in 1997 fled alleged persecution in neighboring Mizoram state.
Also see:
Faked records spur India to check pilots
Time for me to fly, readers.
