by With rapid urbanisation and technological advancement, there is a shift in the pattern of consumption of the people in the rural areas. The transition has been studied in light of the objectives which were set at the beginning of the survey. These underlying objectives were to study the- changes in the pattern of consumption concerning the food items like cereals, pulses and beverages, non-food items like clothing, mobile, television and services like beauty clinics, barbers, and private tuitions, medical. Besides, this the gaps in rural markets regarding the availability of various ranges of products, services and understanding the opportunities to intervene.
As the time is changing the earning, consumption and saving pattern of the Indian consumers are also changing. The research made by Centre for Macro Consumer Research (CMCR) of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) reports that there will be rapid shift of 42% in the income level of the rural households by 2015. This would become possible due to the development in agriculture, and other activities like construction, retail, trading, etc.
There is a huge dramatic change in the rural sector with a change with the shift in the income earnings and the consumption patterns of the rural consumers. But there is a huge disparity between the income generation and consumption pattern among the various states of rural India. Bridging this gap is a big challenge for the marketers and government.
There has been an overall change in the pattern of consumption expenditures made by the households. The consumption pattern has shown its changes concerning different periods of time, as in Financial Year 17-18, five years back and further to this again a ten year back data. Even the type of crops which were cultivated by the households across periods has shown changes. Traditional rain-fed paddy has been replaced by the scientific cultivation of paddy through System of Rice Intensification methods. Besides, changes are also prominent in consumption expenditures made by the households. If consumption expenditure is tracked for respondents, it becomes apparent that the portion of expenditure on food items made during the period FY 17-18 is less as compared to the figures five years back and furthermore for ten years back. Further, to this, the expenditure on items which are like packaged foods, beverages, gutka & Pan Masala shows displays a different trend.
The consumption of liquid beverages was more five years back while it is relatively less now. This can be attributed to the spread of print and social media campaigns which has made the respondents aware of health benefits and ill effects. However, the expenditures have constantly increased over the non-food heads like private tuitions, medical treatment and toiletry, cosmetics as compared to the data of 5-10 years back.
When the attitude of the respondents is captured over their behaviour in the market, it is interesting that the share of expenditure of the respondents on items like furniture, mobile batteries, mobile repair has increased over time.
The number of earning members from a family has also come up recently, the households previously were mostly dependent on one person for income, but now, some earning members are 3-4. The business establishments mostly have found that their returns are high if they run food stalls in Thela and temporary makeshifts selling tea and evening snacks. Respondents, especially the women folk have potential to earn a higher income by taking up vocations around the promotion of traditional skills like weaving.
