The Summit brought together prominent industry leaders and marketing experts, who shared their diverse, forward-looking perspectives on pertinent issues those marketers in emerging economies face today.

In his welcome note, Deputy Dean Ajit Rangnekar said that the ISB thrives on diversity with special focus on emerging markets. The purpose of ikshaa thus was to bring the two characteristics together.

“India has the richest portfolio and the India growth story is hotting up, especially in the FMCG sector,” said keynote speaker Douglas Baillie, CEO Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Conveying the fact that Unilever has deep roots in developing countries, which generated 40 percent of the revenues, he added that in today’s market digitalization, co-creation, scale and sustainability is inevitable. “Co- creation with customers is one big opportunity. As for scale – would you lend 50 million to one person or lend $1 to 50 million people? he asked.

He also shared that in India, rural consumption levels are on the rise and that created a new class of consumers with unique, new needs. “In order to approach this new class we need to follow a top down approach”, he said.

“Doing the same thing as everyone cannot give great results. We need to discover the next paradigm, leap-frog solutions, co-create and engage in deep dialogues, in order to be successful, “Baillie noted.

He also suggested some required paradigm shifts – “Build ecosystems to create relationships with consumers, deliver more on core functionality, employ women as engines of entrepreneurship, and consider the potential of micro-marketing and micro- credit.”

Baillie summed up, “Successful brands of the future will not satisfy consumer fundamental needs alone, but will also address their concerns as citizens.

The other half of the day saw a panel discussion about the opportunities that the large and increasing lower income segment in India poses to a number of Indian and multi-national companies

The panel deliberated on the multi-faceted challenges – infrastructure, technology, vast geographic reach, diverse cultures and consumer mindset etc- that these companies have to face and the on re-thinking of strategies in order to successfully address this segment.

Sanjay Behl, Head of Marketing, Reliance Communication said, “The business of mobile phones in India is relevant to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). In the next 3- 5 years, everyone in India will walk and talk. The main concern however is availability and affordability.” Reliance, he informed, was aiming to move from population coverage to landmass coverage in the next 6 months. Reliance’s approach to crack the BoP, he said, was to provide cheaper handsets, share infrastructure with other operators and partner with government.

“The coming together of the ecosystem will reduce the cost of electronics,” Behl predicted.

Some other initiatives targeted to this sector , he said, was the agrarian application of mobile, e- recharge, multi-lingual voice portal etc.

R Suresh, MD, TNS Research India, expressed that the term ‘beyond rich India’ is an “oxymoron”. “Beyond rich India, there is just India, “he said. He also shared that markets outside the four metros is growing and that statistics reveal that rural India spends 20 % more than urban India and it spends 50% more on food.

“Do you eat at Dhabaas, how many language and dialects do you speak, does a relative who speaks in a regional language embarrass you? “asked Sashi Maudgal, Executive President (Marketing) Hindalco, to the audience. He posited that maybe management students are not equipped enough to tap the BoP segment. He said that one needs to belong to the lower middle class and middle class and preferably not have an MBA in order to empathize with this segment.

“You need a mindset that is open, honest and empathetic, and intimacy and familiarity gives you a competitive edge,” Suresh said. He felt that only an empathetic marketer can bring together India A and India B.

Rajiv Sabharwal, Head of Retail Assets, Rural & Micro Banking Group, ICICI Bank said that the urban poor were a growing portion of the market and that this is a high migrant population, who have links to the rural economy. Sabharwal talked about ICICI’s “holistic” approaches to tap and serve this sector. “A product driven strategy, using hybrid channels and a multiple product approach,” he recommended.

He also shared some initiatives like the Biometrics ATM, mobile banking, and tele- banking etc which can “reach out to a larger section of borrowers at lower costs.”

The future of banking, he said, was an “inclusive banking paradigm.”