SIM'ergence 13 : Shifting Focus Rural India

In a country where approximately 70% of India's population resides in rural areas and 56% of the overall consumption comes from there, it is inevitable that the corporate world has started focusing more on Rural India. Keeping this in mind, the Corporate Relations Committee at SIMSREE organised its annual business conclave SIM'ergence 13 based on the theme ‘Shifting Focus: Rural India’ with the objective of capturing the views and ideas of industry stalwarts on rural markets and understanding the role that they will play in fostering inclusive economic growth in future. 

The conclave was held at the BSE International Convention Hall on Wednesday, March 13 and was graced by a number of eminent personalities from corporate India. The Guest of Honor was Mr. Mangal Prabhat Lodha, an MLA from the Malabar Hill Constituency and the Founder Chairman of Lodha Developers, one of the leading real estate developers in the country. The event was inaugurated by SIMSREE’s Director Dr. M.A. Khan, Mr. Lodha and Mr. Ashish Chauhan, the MD and CEO of the BSE. 

Following an inspirational message from Mr. Lodha to the audience, Mr. Chauhan took us down memory lane to some of the roots of Indian culture and history and encouraged us to preserve the traditional heritage that our ancestors have left behind. He also highlighted the growing importance of the SME sector as a driving force for rural empowerment. 

The stage was then set for Mr. Anshuman Singh, the Managing Director & CEO, Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. He spoke about how difficult it would be to eradicate poverty unless the poor were given basic facilities like primary education, healthcare and food security. Mr. Singh also emphasized the need to reduce regional disparities and bridge the gap between urban and rural India. 

The keynote speech for the event was delivered by Mr. Anil Kamath, founder Chairman of Esemcee Advisers and a former Managing Director at Wockhardt Hospitals. Mr. Kamath prepared a wonderful presentation citing various live examples of companies and individuals who have positively influenced the lives of thousands of Indian villagers. 

Mr. Ajit Menon, Executive Vice President and Head – Sales at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. was the Corporate Speaker at the event. It was indeed, interesting to hear from an investment banker how rural financing has evolved over the last few decades and Mr. Menon was kind enough to share some of the unique strategies that can be adopted while targeting rural markets. He cautioned against sterotyping rural India and stressed the need to innovate in order to ‘tap the bottom of the pyramid’ successfully. 

Given the increasing importance that is being given to rural empowerment through financial inclusion, the afternoon session commenced with a panel discussion on ‘Future of the Indian Banking Industry – Financial Inclusion and Improvement in Payment Infrastructure’. The panelists for the event were Mr. Bharat Sampat, CFO at Development Credit Bank, Mr. Malcolm Athaide, President at Yes Bank, Ms. Dipti Kataria, Country Head of Global Payments, a JV with HSBC and Mr. Sanjay Sinha, Founder of Citrus Advisers. The discussion which was moderated by Mr. Kunal Pande, Partner at KPMG, revolved around developing commercially viable solutions to provide banking services to the unbanked at an affordable cost. The panelists advocated an increase in Micro ATMs so as to overcome operational and distribution challenges in rural banking. 

The second discussion aimed at understanding the effectiveness of various rural marketing campaigns in an attempt to analyse the approach, tools, skills and strategies required to be successful in rural markets. The topic for discussion was ‘Measuring Marketing Effectiveness – Looking Back to Rural Areas’ and the panel consisted of eminent corporates like Mr. Kewal Handa, Former MD at Pfizer Limited (Moderator), Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, CEO at Rural Relations, Mr. Anand Pejawar, Executive Director – Marketing, SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd, Dr. Vinod Juneja, MD at Binani Cement and Mr. Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia at Mindshare. While agreeing that the rural economy has been given a boost in the recent past, they felt that many areas are still under-penetrated, thereby presenting numerous opportunities for all sectors. 

All in all, SIM’ergence 13 was a grand success and credit for the same goes to the students of the Corporate Relations Committee of SIMSREE who worked very hard right from the inception to the execution of the event. The constant support and guidance of our Director Dr. Khan along with the faculty members was also instrumental in ensuring that the entire event went off smoothly.