Between 2005 and 2025, more than 300 million people would move up from the category of rural poor to rural lower middle class income group, claimed Pradeep Kashyap, chief executive officer of MART Rural Solutions, at the Calcutta Management Association Rural Marketing Meet.
"One of the most ineresting trends in the coming years would be collectivisation of the rural populace. Producers would get connected and that will result in rural wealth creation", he explained.
As 23 million households were estimated to be connected to the electricity network by 2009, purchasing power of the rural family would grow exponentially.
"Demand for television sets, two-wheelers and cars will surge significantly," he predicted.
Televsion set sales in rural areas could will double from 50 million now in a decade and of the 500 million mobile phone users in the country by 2011, 150 million would be in rural areas, he claimed.
Also Read
Income from the non-farm sector could touch 66 per cent of net rural income by 2020 as every family could have a member working in the non-farm sector, many as salaried individuals.
The market size would thus nearly double as people earning upto $5 a day could grow from 35 per cent in 2005 to 65 per cent in 2025, he predicted.
Average rural spending could grow overall six times from current levels in 20 years.
Healthcare and education spending were estimated to grow at 10.8 and 12.4 per cent respectively in urban India, with the rural sector clocking 6.8 and 9.3 per cent growth in healthcare and education in the coming years.
Private healthcare providers had started penetrating the rural market.
Madurai based Arvind Eye Care System (AECS) had come up with low cost vision testing centers across South India and would have 36 of them by end-2008.
While eyecare was developed in the south, North India remained largely untapped, said Sashipriya K M, senior faculty member, AECS.