Indian marketers’ search for the next big emerging markets ends here. There are 51 districts in the country, like Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Amravati (Maharashtra), Bhavnagar (Gujarat), Kamrup (Assam) and Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), with at least one major town with a population above 5 lakh, that offer huge market potential for anything from mass products like soaps and toothpastes to high-end durables like LCD Television and cars.
These 51 districts have market potential almost twice that of total market in the top four metros combined – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
Additionally, around 60 districts offer an attractive combination of an emerging small-town (population under 5 lakh) surrounded by prosperous rural areas like Gurdaspur (Punjab), Puducherry, Shimoga (Karnataka), Idduki (Kerala) and Wardha (Maharashtra). Prioriting of marketing efforts in these 111-odd emerging districts in the country can create a market which can be almost thrice the size of the total market in the top four metros combined, according to ET exclusive insights from the 2008 edition of RK Swamy BBDO Guide to Market Planning.
The guide evaluates not only the absolute market potential (Market Potential Value; MPV) which in certain geographies can be high, but also the per capita potential (Market Intensity Index; MII), which can be another important determining variable for intelligent market planning. The guide covered 515 districts (out of a total of 593) in 21 states and three union territories. A total of 24 parameters – like income, ownership, formal employment, bank credit et al – were chosen for urban and rural areas to assess MPV and MII.
On an all India basis, Mumbai district (Mumbai, suburban Mumbai and Thane town) remains the biggest market in the country, followed by Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. Interestingly, amongst top ten markets nationally, even though Pune registers a bigger market size (based on MPV), Hyderabad has better quality market (its MII at 202 is higher than Pune’s 173). The top 10 here contribute around a fifth of the country’s total market potential.