Rular India - Market
BBL Summary (October 15, 2012)
Rural India: The Emerging Market
Pradeep KASHYAP
Founder & CEO, MART
Today's presentation will cover several topics. First, opportunities for Japanese businesses in India will be introduced. Next, the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) will be discussed. Finally, a question and answer session will take place in order to answer any questions which the audience may have.
Japanese companies such as Toyota, Honda, and Suzuki first came to India in 1984 to sign joint-venture collaboration agreements with Indian companies. These collaborations for the most part were very successful. As an example, the Honda collaboration with Hero Motors in India produced more motorcycles last year than Honda did in Japan. A similar story is that of the Maruti Suzuki India Limited collaboration. Once again, Maruti-Suzuki produced many more vehicles in India last year than Suzuki did in Japan. This shows the great potential of the Indo-Japanese collaboration.
However, in the 1990s as the Japanese economy started slowing down, Japanese companies started to focus more on domestic issues and less on India. In the last 10-15 years, many Korean companies such as LG Corporation, Samsung, and Hyundai have moved into the Indian market and enjoyed success. Hyundai has become the second largest car manufacturer in India. If Japanese companies had continued to maintain their presence in India, it is likely that Hyundai would not have been able to have become such a big player in the Indian market.
India is a very complex country, whereas Japan is relatively homogeneous. There are 21 languages, presenting a significant challenge. Another issue is the culture. It is said that the culture changes every 10 kilometers. Officially, there are 56 socio-cultural regions. There are also large variations related to a multitude of parameters. Kerala has a literacy rate of 93% as opposed to Bihar with only 63%. Similarly, income varies greatly in different states. The income per
Rural India: The Emerging Market
Pradeep KASHYAP
Founder & CEO, MART
Today's presentation will cover several topics. First, opportunities for Japanese businesses in India will be introduced. Next, the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) will be discussed. Finally, a question and answer session will take place in order to answer any questions which the audience may have.
Japanese companies such as Toyota, Honda, and Suzuki first came to India in 1984 to sign joint-venture collaboration agreements with Indian companies. These collaborations for the most part were very successful. As an example, the Honda collaboration with Hero Motors in India produced more motorcycles last year than Honda did in Japan. A similar story is that of the Maruti Suzuki India Limited collaboration. Once again, Maruti-Suzuki produced many more vehicles in India last year than Suzuki did in Japan. This shows the great potential of the Indo-Japanese collaboration.
However, in the 1990s as the Japanese economy started slowing down, Japanese companies started to focus more on domestic issues and less on India. In the last 10-15 years, many Korean companies such as LG Corporation, Samsung, and Hyundai have moved into the Indian market and enjoyed success. Hyundai has become the second largest car manufacturer in India. If Japanese companies had continued to maintain their presence in India, it is likely that Hyundai would not have been able to have become such a big player in the Indian market.
India is a very complex country, whereas Japan is relatively homogeneous. There are 21 languages, presenting a significant challenge. Another issue is the culture. It is said that the culture changes every 10 kilometers. Officially, there are 56 socio-cultural regions. There are also large variations related to a multitude of parameters. Kerala has a literacy rate of 93% as opposed to Bihar with only 63%. Similarly, income varies greatly in different states. The income per