7th - 8th December 2017 Eros Hotel, New Delhi

Event OverviewWith the introduction of a number of reforms by Government of India in the Union Budget 2017-18 to uplift the rural markets, the Government is looking at installing Wi-Fi hotspots at more than 1,000 gram panchayats across India under the Digital Village scheme. This wider reach of media and telecommunication services has provided information and connectivity to India’s rural consumers and is influencing their purchase decisions.

With 742 million Indians constituting 138 million households residing in 638,365 villages, the size of the rural market itself speaks of its potential. The market is still a big mystery for most of the companies. Due to a lack of deeper insights into the psychology of the rural consumers, organizations are hesitant to explore this territory. The rural population has shown a trend of wanting to move into a state of gradual urbanization in terms of exposure, habits, lifestyles and lastly, consumption patterns of goods and services.

Some of India’s largest consumer companies have one-third of their consumers hailing from rural India. Owing to a favourable changing consumption trend as well as the potential size of the market, rural India provides a large and attractive investment opportunity for private companies. The future is very promising for those who can understand the dynamics of rural markets and leverage it to the fullest.

Influencing rural strategies across India for half a decade, The Economic Times 5th Annual Rural Strategy Summit will focus on “Rural India- Leading the Growth Story”. The forum will bring together the leading stakeholders in a closed door initiative to discuss, deliberate and ponder upon the learnings from the rural strategies of organizations so far, and ascertain the best way forward in the myriad cities that we broadly classify as Rural.

The Government of India has planned various initiatives to provide and improve the infrastructurWWe in rural areas, which can have a multiplier effect in increasing movements of goods, services and thereby improve the earning potential of rural inhabitants and improving consumption.

• Rs.187,223 crore (US$ 28.08 billion) has been allocated towards rural, agriculture and allied sectors.

• The Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana-Gramin has been increased from Rs.15,000 crore (US$ 2.25 billion) to Rs.23,000 crore (US$ 3.45 billion) in the year 2017-18 with a target to complete 10 million houses for the homeless by the year 2019.

• The pace of roads construction under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has been accelerated to 133 kms per day as against an average of 73 kms per day during the years 2011-14.

• The allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been Rs.48,000 crore (US$ 7.2 billion) in the year 2017-18, which is the highest ever allocated amount.

Recent Developments and Government Initiatives

Understanding the potential of Rural India

GROWTH IN MARKET:

The market has been growing at 3-4% per annum adding more than one million new consumers every year. The consumer is brand loyal and is drawn to familiar symbols.

INCREASE IN INCOME AND PURCHASING POWER:

The agricultural development programs of the government have helped to increase income in the agricultural sector. This in turn has created greater purchasing power in rural India.

ACCESSIBILITY OF MARKETS:

The road network has facilitated a systemized product distribution system to villages. An increasing number of companies are supplying village markets directly. Increasing direct contact to villages helps product promotion and availability of the product in the village shops.

BETTER CREDIT FACILITY THROUGH BANKS:

With co-operative banks taking the lead in the rural areas, every village has access to short, medium, long-term loans from these banks.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

According to NSSO data, rural India’s denizens use mobile phones and telephones more than other communication devices. Social Media has created an increased demand for goods and services in rural areas

DAY ONEProgrammeSchedule 09:00 - 09:45 Registrations

09:45 - 09:55 Welcome Address by ET Edge

09:55 - 10:15 Opening Keynote: Contemplating Important Schemes & Government Policies for the development of Rural IndiaShri Amarjeet Sinha, Secretary (Rural Development)

10:15 - 10:50 Inaugral Panel Discussion 1: Advisory Board Members, Key drivers for the Growing Business Confidence in Rural IndiaTapan Singhel, Managing Director & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance R. S. Sodhi, Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (AMUL)Shri H.R. Dave, Deputy Managing Director, NABARD Manish Jaiswal, MD & CEO, Magma Housing Finance & SME BusinessKalpana Tiwari, Member Postal Services Board (Retd), Government of IndiaModerator: RN Bhaskar, Consulting Editor of Free Press Journal

10:50 - 11:00 Q&A

11:00 - 13:00 REALITY CHECK: PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

11:00 - 11:35 Panel Discussion: Adapting customer engagement Strategies for the newly connected rural consumerAshok Bhasin, Head of Sales, Marketing & Customer Care, Hero MotoCorpAditi Anand, Founder Director, Little Red Car FilmsDeepak Kumar Mitra, SATO Business Head, South Asia, LIXIL Water TechnologyPradipta Kumar Sahoo, Business Head, Mother DairyC.S. Sadasivan, Chief Executive (Marketing), JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd

11:35 - 11:45 Q&A

11:45 - 12:00 Networking Break

12:00 - 12:20 Creating a technology empowered business ecosystem with the rural population and building synergistic relationships for optimal resultsRaghavendra Prasanna, Director – Growth & New initiatives, Local Cube Commerce Pvt Ltd

12:20 - 12:30 Q&A

12:30 - 12:50 FireSide Chat: Understanding how the financial sector is collaborating with new age fintech companies for improving rural banking experienceDr Jaideep Devare, Managing Director, Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd.

12:50 - 13:00 Q&A

13:00 - 14:00 Networking Luncheon

14:00 - 14:45 INCLUSIVE ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

INNOVATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY

14:45 - 15:20 Panel Discussion 3: Creating a technology empowered business ecosystem with the rural population and building synergistic relationships for optimal resultsManoj Rawat, Head, Agribusiness & Rural Banking, RBL BankPritam Kadam, MD, Rural Maximise MediaVirendra Jamdade, Founder Director and CEO, VRITTI SolutionsShivalik Prasad, Executive Director, MapmyIndia Moderator, T K Arun, Editor, Opinion, The Economic Times

15:20 - 15:30 Q&A

15:40 - 16:00 RubanomiCx - creating superior experiences for the rural consumers & empowering rural entrepreneursMadan Padaki, Founder and CEO, 1Bridge

16:00 - 16:10 Q&A

16:10 Valedictory Closing and networking coffee

09:00 - 09:45 Registrations

10:00 - 10:15 Key Note Address: Content is the king - The importance of customized content for the Rural marketsSmt. Alka Upadhyay, Joint Secretary (Skills), Ministry of Rural Development

10:15 - 12:45 BUSINESS STRATEGY

10:15 - 10:50 Panel Discussion: Taking stock of changing business strategies post GST and the way forwardHemant Rupani, Director, Sales at Mondelez India Foods Private Kaushik Dhar, Head Marketing (Small) Passenger Commercial Vehicles at Tata MotorsAntony Cherukara, VP Corporate Strategy & Business Head, Kirloskar Oil EnginesGeorge Angelo, CEO, AnchorR. Ramanathan, Co- Founder & CEO, Inthree AccessModerator: Saloni Roy, Senior Director, Deloitte

10:50 - 11:00 Q&A

15:15 - 15:35 Flash Presentations: Narratives from Unsung Heroes who are changing the way organizations deal with business bottle necksSrinivas Peddada, Chief Information Officer, Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited

11:20 - 11:30 Q&A

11:30 - 11:45 Networking Break

11:45 - 12:05 Effectively Leading Your Indirect Sales Force to Power Profitability and Deliver on Aligned Business Objectives Siddhartha Jain, Director - Business Transformation at Perfetti Van Melle

12:05 - 12:15 Q&A

12:15 - 12:35 Welcome to Ground Reality Pradeep Lokhande, founder and CEO, Rural Relations

12:35 - 12:45 Q&A

12:45 - 13:00 Pitch Session

13:00 - 14:00 Networking Luncheon

14:00 - 14:45 INCLUSIVE ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

14:45 - 15:55 LAST MILE DISTRIBUTION

14:45 - 15:15 Panel Discussion: Discovering New strategies for omnichannel distributionSridhar Gundaiah, Founder & CEO, StoreKing Praveen Kumar, Manager - Rural Market, International Finance Cooperation, World BankSugato Banerji, Head of marketing, Videocon d2hSharad Mathur, Head - Distribution, SBI General Insurance CompanyAlok De, Lead - Farm Livelihoods, National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)Chandra Kant, Global Partnerships Leader (India), Greenlight Planet IncModerator: Ramendra Verma, Partner, KPMG

15:15 - 15:25 Q&A

15:25 - 15:45 Case Study 3: Reaching the last mile of Rural with integration of mobile technologiesAwanish Sharma, Director Operations Last Mile, Amazon

15:45 - 15:55 Q&A

15:55 - 16:00 Valedictory Closing and Networking coffee

DAY TWO

Why should you attend?It’s a platform to discuss and collectively learn from collective experiences and perspectives on how leading companies and brands are reimagining their approach and strategies to grow their market share in the rural market • Capturing opportunities in rural businesses

brought by the development of Digital India• Keep up with rural consumer behaviour through

insights from multi-channel sellers• Maximizing the power of consumer relationship

management to create and increase brand loyalty• Digitalising your customer retention and

acquisition strategies in a changing environment

Functional Heads From:• Rural Business• Sales & Marketing• Business Development &

Commercial• Product Marketing• Market Access• New Ventures• New Product Development• Branding & Communications• E-commerce• Corporate Communications• Business Analysis & Planning• Advertising• Strategic Management• Supply Chain• Distribution and Channel

Management

Who will you meet?From the following industries:• FMCG• Banking, Financial Services &

Insurance• Pharmaceuticals• Food & Beverages• Healthcare• Retail• Telecommunications• Automobiles

For further details, contact:

M: +91 8268 002 168E: info@et-rss.com

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