THE NEED
800 million people (~66%) of India's population resides in rural areas, with diverse needs, consumer preferences and access to products and services. Rural India contributes to 47% of total India’s GDP. Still, systemic and sectoral challenges exist in providing better physical and social infrastructure to meet the needs of a rural consumer.
SYSTEMIC CHALLENGES
- Data asymmetry: Multiple sources and multiple parameters with different methodologies and timelines/frequency for data collection create inconsistencies, making it difficult to assess the needs of rural communities
- One solution doesn't fit all: Community needs and demand for products and services are scattered and vary based on proximity to markets, resources available, climatic conditions and socio-economic parameters, requiring custom solutions and delivery models
- Risk sharing: Innovative delivery and payment models, predicated on greater risk-sharing between consumers and solution providers, are needed to achieve commercial viability of solutions
- Consumer behaviour: While technology needs to be user-friendly, perception about a technology and its use by the consumer is equally important to improve both adoption and adaption of solutions
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Sectoral challenges limit the ability to undertake income-generating activities. This in turn creates a vicious cycle of low productivity and low income, which leads to low affordability of basic products and services, critical for socio-economic development. However, rural growth is being propelled by programmes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Har Ghar Jal, Ujjwala, Saubhagya schemes in rural areas. Eight core sectors are identified based on extensive primary and secondary research, stakeholder engagements, inter-dependency, market opportunity and impetus from the public and private sector players, and their relevance for enhanced access to products and services to rural households.
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India’s agriculture technology market to be worth $24.1 Billion by 2025
Agriculture and Livelihood
35-50% lower agriculture productivity compared to global benchmarks
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$5.6 Billion investments required to provide clean drinking access through small water enterprises
Water and Sanitation
63 million people lack access to clean drinking water
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Telemedicine market in India to exceed $ 5.5 billion by 2025
Healthcare and Nutrition
India ranks 67th in doctor-population ratio by WHO
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Clean energy innovations for livelihoods have a market worth $50 billion in rural India
Energy
Reliability is an issue with 46% villages having less than 12 hours of supply
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Current annual remittance of $10.7 billion to rural areas
Financial Services
About 45% villages lack banking services within 5 km
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More than 109 million skilled workers required by 2022
Education and Skill Development
Over 40 million youth failed to reach secondary education
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Rural e-commerce projected to grow at 32% CAGR during 2017 – 2021
Communication and Digital Inclusion
Only 27% of rural population has internet access
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Rural sales contributing to 50% of two-wheeler sales
People and Goods Movement
More than 26% of villages in India are still not connected by all-weather roads
72.4%
Of India's workforce resides in rural India (Census 2011)
1.5x
Growth is expected in rural consumption (USD 100 billion market) compared to urban areas by 2025
$ 360 Billion
Growth in India’s agriculture output by 2030, compared to $250 Billion in 2019
3.23x
Of income growth is seen in
rural areas, compared to
2.77x
in urban India
(2004-12)
52%
Of India’s industrial production output is contributed to by rural areas (2017)
To further development in rural areas, there is a need to focus on ways to improve data reliability, identify and deliver viable solutions and business models, and create an ecosystem of cross-sectoral partners to scale interventions. Under this project, an integrated data-driven approach has been developed to mitigate these challenges and unlock potential opportunities.
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