Project SHAKTI - Changing Lives in Rural India

NAMES ROLLNO

HEENA SHAIKH 100

SNEHAL THORAT 119
RACHANA RANE 81
PRIYA SHARMA 102
NEETA WALODRA 127
NEHA SHETYE 106
SHRUTI SAWANT 93
VIRALI SHAH 99
 Acknowledgement:
We the students of SYBMS (B), with Roll No: 119, 100, 81,
102, 127, 106, 99, 93 glad to present the hard copy of our
project on HUL SHAKTI. We are thankful to you providing
us with such an interesting Topic and we had a great time in
collecting all relevant matter of this project.
You’re sincerely,
SYBMS (B)

INDEX
1. Introduction of Hul 5-6
 2. Where HUL's Shakti comes from 7
3. What is project shakti all about 8
4. What is self help groups & how does it work 9
5. Concept 10-15
6. Objective 16
7. Model of Project Shakti 17
8. Business goals 18
9. Shakti Vani 19-20
10. Shakti Vani is a social 21
communication programme
11. iShakti: Crossing the Border 22-23
12. How project shakti works: 24-25
13. Process 26
14. How HUL's Rural Model Work 27-28
15. Distribution of Villages in India 29-30

16. Reaching the unreachable geographical

areas 31-32
17. Conversation with two workers of project 33-35
shakti

Introduction of Hul
1. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving
Consumer Goods Company, touching the lives of two out of three
 Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care
Products and Foods & Beverages. The company’s Turnover is Rs.
17,523 crores (for the financial year 2009 - 2010)
2. Unilever was the world's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods
(FMCG) Company with worldwide revenue of $55 billion in 2005. Its
Indian subsidiary, the Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) was the
country's largest FMCG Company with combined volumes of about 4
million tonnes and revenues near about $2.43 billion. HUL's major
brands included Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely,
Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond,
Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality Wall's etc. These were
manufactured over 40 factories across the country.
3. HUL is a subsidiary of Unilever
4. Hindustan Unilever was recently rated among the top four companies
globally in the list of “Global Top Companies for Leaders” by a study
sponsored by Hewitt Associates, in partnership with Fortune magazine
and the RBL Group. The company was ranked number one in the Asia-
Pacific region and in India.
5. HUL has been proactively engaged in rural development since 1976
with the initiation of the Integrated Rural Development Programme in
the Etah district of Uttar Pradesh, in tandem with the company’s dairy
operations. This Programme now covers 500 villages in the district.
Subsequently, the factories that HUL continued establishing in less-
developed regions of the country have been engaged in similar
programmes in adjacent villages. These factory-centered activities
mainly focus on training farmers, animal husbandry, generating
alternative income, health & hygiene and infrastructure development.
6. The mission that inspires HUL's more than 15,000 employees,
including over 1,400 managers, is to help people feel good, look good
and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them
and good for others. 
7. It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which
holds about 52 % of the equity.
8. Home & Personal Care
Personal Wash
Fabric Wash
Home Care
Oral Care
Skin Care
Hair Care
Deodorants & Talc'sColor Cosmetics

Where HUL's Shakti comes from:

A HARSH summer sun beats down mercilessly on the drive to Nalgonda

district in Andhra Pradesh. The rocky landscape is parched, scorched by
successive years of drought. The destination is Peddakaparthy village, 65
kms from Hyderabad, and the seat of a brave new experiment by fast
moving consumer goods major, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), where,
undaunted by the vagaries of nature, a group of village women are
attempting to bring about a transformation in their lives. Through a
combination of micro-credit and training in enterprise management, these
women from self-help groups have turned direct-to-home distributors of a
range of HUL products and helping the company plumb hitherto
unexplored rural hinterlands.
From the time HUL's new distribution model, named Project Shakti, was
piloted in Nalgonda district in 2001, it has been scaled up and extended to
over 5,000 villages in 52 districts in AP, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya
Pradesh with around 1,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold.
The vision is ambitious: to create by 2010 about 11,000 Shakti
entrepreneurs covering one lakh villages and touching the lives of 100
million rural consumers.

WHAT IS PROJECT SHAKTI ALL ABOUT:

Launched in 2001, the initiative, Project Shakti, helped HUL reach the so-
called media-dark regions by turning rural women into direct-to home
distributors of its mass-market products
Shakti is HUL's rural initiative, which targets small villages with
population of less than 2000 people or less. It seeks to empower
underprivileged rural women by providing income-generating
opportunities, health and hygiene education through the Shakti Vani
programme, and creating access to relevant information through the
iShakti community portal. Shakti is a pioneering effort in creating
livelihoods for rural women, organised in Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and
improving living standards in rural India. Shakti provides critically
needed additional income to these women and their families, by
equipping and training them to become an extended arm of the company's
operation.

What is self help groups & how does it work:

The SHGs are also popularly called DWCRA groups and this name
became popular after the DWCRA programme (Development of Women
and Children in rural areas)
10-15 women come together to form a self help group to inculcate small
savings
Groups promoted by the Government or NGOs to tackle poverty. Micro
loans from rural bank to setup enterprises
Individual women take small loans from the group to start income
generating activity (petty vegetable vending, fish trading, tailoring, dairy)
 Concept

Unilever wanted to penetrate deeper to 1,000 to 2,000 pop villages –

existing distribution model unviable Self Help Group women members
were looking for more sustainable business opportunities in small village
markets
These provide rural women a platform to save money---they keep pooling
money, save in a bank, and by the end of the year, they get a matching
loan from the same bank.
This way, the group's corpus doubles, and individual members can
borrow internally from the group and start a business.
These groups are increasingly being used by the government for social
development. In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, all government schemes,
the pulse polio programme or the LPG (cooking gas) connections are
routed through these groups. There are around 6 lakh SHGs in the
country.
Typically, each of these group save Re 1 per day or Rs 30 per month
(some groups save more). A group with 15 members and a saving of Rs
30 per head would save Rs 450 per month or Rs 5,400 in a year. The
members can borrow from the group's kitty (typically, the interest rates
are 2-2.5 per cent month or 24-30 per cent per annum).
At the end of the year, the group---if the repayments within the group is
95 per cent and the attendance by members is 75 per cent---can take a
matching loan from regional rural banks, who are refinanced by
NABARD. This way their corpus doubles.
Initially, it starts off with individuals taking loans for self-consumption: a
marriage or illness in the family. Soon the government agencies---the
district collectors or the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA)
which facilitates these groups----the banks and NABARD realised that to
sustain these groups, it was important to have income-generating
activities. As bank loans are strictly for productive activities, the groups
began different activities: bought cattle for dairy activities, weaving, toy-
manufacturing, leasing a farm or opening a small shop in the village. It's
here that HUL saw an opportunity.
Started in 2001, Shakti has already been extended to about 80,000
villages in 15 states
Shakti already has about 25,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold. A
typical Shakti entrepreneur earns a sustainable income of about Rs.700
-Rs.1, 000 per month, which is double their average household income.
Shakti is thus creating opportunities for rural women to live in improved
conditions and with dignity, while improving the overall standard of
living in their families.
HUL soon realized that although it was enjoying a greater penetration in
the rural market when compared with its competitor such as Nirma and
ITC, its direct reach was restricted to only 16%. The FMCG giant was
desperate to increase this share. HUL saw its dream fulfillment in the vast
Indian rural market. The company was already engaged in rural
development with the launch of the Integrated Rural Development
Programme in 1976 in the Etah district of Uttar Pradesh. This program
was in tandem with HUL's dairy operations and covered 500 villages in
Etah. Subsequently, the company introduced similar programs in adjacent
villages. These activities mainly aimed at training farmers, animal
husbandry, generating alternative income, health & hygiene and
infrastructure development.
The main issue in rural development was to create income-generating
prospects for the poor villagers. Such initiatives, linked with the
company's core business, became successful and sustainable and proved
to be mutually beneficial to both the company and its rural customers.
However, much remained to be done. Project Shakti was conceived.
Following the pioneering work carried out by Grameen Bank of
Bangladesh, Self Help Groups (SHGs) of rural women were formed by
several institutions, NGOs and government bodies in villages across
India. This group of usually 15 members contributed a small amount of
money to a common pool and then offered a micro-credit to a member of
the group to invest in a commonly approved economic activity. Partnering
with these SHGs, HUL started its Project Shakti in Nalgonda district of
Andhra Pradesh in 50 villages in the year 2000. The social side of the
Project Shakti was that it was aimed to create income-generating
capabilities for underprivileged rural women, by providing a sustainable
micro enterprise opportunity, and to improve rural living standards
through health and hygiene awareness. Most SHG women viewed Project
Shakti as a powerful business proposition and are keen participants in it.
There after it was extended in other states with the total strength of over
40,000 Shakti Entrepreneurs.
HUL offered a wide range of products to the SHGs, which were relevant
to rural customers. HUL invested significantly in resources who work
with the women on the field and provide them with on-the-job training
and support. HUL provided the necessary training to these groups on the
basics of enterprise management, which the women need to manage their
enterprises.
For the SHG women, this translated into a much-needed, sustainable
income contributing towards better living and prosperity. Armed with
micro-credit, women from SHGs become direct-to-home distributors in
rural markets
Having successful in Nalgonda, in 2003 HUL planned to broaden Shakti
to a 100 districts in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and UP. There were other
plans such as to allow other companies (except HUL's competitors) such
As Nippo, TVS Motor for mopeds, insurance companies for LIC policies
to get onto the Shakti network to sell their stocks. Sehgal was looking
proud when he announced, "We wanted to first stabilise the project before
we can look at other companies. It requires somebody with scale and size
to build a platform and then invite other companies onto this platform."
He further emphasized that Shakti was creating a win-win partnership
between HUL and its consumers.
There were about 4.36 lakh women SHGs in AP with almost 58.29 lakh
poor women. AP alone had about half of the SHGs of the country. By
2005 the SHGs had mobilized Rs 1500 crore had mobilised as corpus.
The rural women organized themselves into `thrift and credit' groups with
a saving of Re.1 a day which created a fund of more than Rs 800 crore.
While the savings was there among the SHGs, there was no channel of
investment. HUL tapped this huge overlooked network to launch Project
Shakti. HUL has able to provide a window of prospect to invest and earn.
The impact of HUL was not all of a sudden. HUL witnessed 15%
incremental sales from the villages of AP, which accounted 50% of the
total sales of HUL products in AP. Market analysts were perceiving a
huge potential in the rural foray of HUL. Nikhil Vora, Sr. Vice President
of research group ASK Raymond James believed that if there was one
company that could take on the onus of developing the rural markets, it
was HUL. He further continued, "HUL contributes 20 per Cent of the
total FMCG business in the country. So, clearly, the onus is on HUL to
grow the market. Returns may not happen in the next five years, but a lot
of consumer understanding and insights comes from an exercise like
Project Shakti, which in turn can lead to product innovation."
HUL acknowledged that for Project Shakti to be successful for the
company's rural penetration, dealers and communicators must be well
trained. It was unclear how dealers would perform in an expanded
infrastructure. Although HUL's rural initiatives incurred huge costs to the
company, it was expected that with the monsoon revival and greater rural
incomes could decline the payback period for projects like Shakti.
Moreover, the decreasing brand loyalty among urban consumers rural
market had become an imperative. According to the Concurs K.N. Siva
Subramanian, Sr. Vice President, Franklin Templeton India Ltd, "The
(HUL) management had recognized the impending saturation of the urban
markets some time back and launched aggressive plans to capture the
rural markets. However, a slowdown in the agricultural sector resulted in
rural incomes remaining flat and affecting sales. We believe that by
targeting lower price points and further expanding the distribution
network, companies can tap the potential of rural markets. Initiatives like
Project Shakti will help them in establishing and consolidating their base
in rural markets."
HUL would have to determine whether Project Shakti could be repeatable
in other countries. The Indian family structure and village interaction
provide a unique diffusion mechanism that is an effective vehicle for
Shakti. Whether this model could be successfully implemented in other
countries must be further explored. Moreover, it needs to find out whether
the Project Shakti or e-choupal like initiatives could be increased. There
was no doubt that the regional brands, or even larger FMCG companies,
did not have the kind of distribution reach that HUL had established and
in the long run, that could prove a winner for HUL.
Objective:
•The Shakti entrepreneur program creates livelihood opportunities for
underprivileged rural women.

•The Shakti Vani program works to improve the quality of life in rural
India, by spreading awareness of best practices in health and hygiene.
•They are also studying the consumption habits of the rural people.
Participated States:
o Andhra Pradesh
o Karnataka
o Madhya Gujarat
o Chhattisgarh
o Orissa
o Punjab
o Rajasthan
o Tamilnadu
o Uttar Pradesh
o West Bengal
o Bihar
o Haryana
o Jharkhand

Model of Project Shakti:

BUSINESS GOALS:
The company breeds approximately half of its business in India from the
towns and cities and half from rural areas, where its products are sold in
some 100,000 villages
With population of 2,000 or more. At the end of the 1990s, however, the
company became conscious to augment its market share it can happen
only when the market is
Expanded. At this juncture, the challenge was to reach the 500,000
villages with less population located in secluded parts of the country,
where there are millions of potential
Consumers, but no retail distribution network, no advertising coverage
and media coverage and broken roads and transport. To achieve the aim
the company needs a different business model. In this struggle there
evolved the brain child of HUL “Project Shakti”.
The main business goal of Project Shakti is to improve the rural
Distribution channels, Cater profitably to consumers located at the
bottom of the pyramid, tap the uncovered rural market. The study
aims at scrutinizing whether the business goals of the project are
achieved and to what extent it is achieved with reference to the opted
research area.

SOCIAL GOALS
 Improve rural living standards through health and hygiene
awareness.
 Empowerment of women.

Shakti Vani:
Shakti Vani is a social communication programme. Women, trained in
health and suhygiene ises, address village communities through meetings
at schools, village baithaks , SHG meetings and other social fora. In 2004,
Shakti Vani has covered 10,000 villages in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh
and Karnataka.
It initiative which helps support Project Shakti is
the Shakti Vani programme. Under this programme,
trained communicators visit schools and village
congregations to drive messages on sanitation, good
hygiene practices and women empowerment. This
serves as a rural communication vehicle and helps
the Shakti Amma’s in their sales.

In 2001, the company embarked on an ambitious programme, Shakti.

Through Shakti, HUL is creating micro-enterprise opportunities for rural
women, thereby improving their livelihood and the standard of living in
rural communities. Shakti also includes health and hygiene education
through the Shakti Vani Programme, and creating access to relevant
information through the iShakti community portal. The program now
covers 15 states in India and has over 31,000 women entrepreneurs in
its fold, reaching out to 100,000 villages and directly reaching to 150
million rural consumers.
Shakti Vani is a social communication
programme.
Free Dental /health Camps in Shakti Villages

iShakti: Crossing the Border

Encouraged by the goodwill and success of Project Shakti, in August
2003, HUL launched an Internet-based rural information service, called I-
Shakti, in Andhra Pradesh, in association with the Andhra Pradesh
Government's Rajiv Internet Village Programme. I-Shakti was an IT-
based rural information service to provide vital information to the rural
people in fields like agriculture, education, vocational training, health,
hygiene and the like . The objective behind the i-Shakti model was to give
need based demand driven information and services in the villages.
iShakti, the Internet-based rural information service, has been launched 
in Andhra Pradesh, in association with the Andhra Pradesh Government's
Rajiv Internet Village Programme. The service is now available in
Nalgonda, Vishakapatnam, West Godavari and East Godavari districts.
iShakti has been developed to provide information and services to meet
rural needs in medical health and hygiene, agriculture, animal husbandry,
Education, vocational training and employment and women's
empowerment.
The vision is to have 3,500 kiosks across the state by 2005. I-Shakti was
based on an interactive discussion technology developed & patented by
the Unilever Corporate Research Team, U.K. The system enabled an in-
depth understanding of each user needs and thereby improved the quality
of services offered to them. The APonline , had tied up with i-Shakti to
launch various services. Moreover, through i-shakti, the ICICI Bank and
HUL jointly provided various financial products and services such as life
and general insurance, investment products (Equity, Mutual Funds,
Bonds), ICICI Bank Pure Gold (gold coins), Personal Credit, Rural
Savings Accounts and Remittances to the rural customer.

How project shakti works:

The recruitment of a Shakti Entrepreneur or Shakti Amma (SA) begins
with the executives of HUL identifying the uncovered village.
The representative of the company meets the panchayat and the village
head and identify the woman who they believe will be suitable as a SA.
After training she is asked to put up Rs 20,000 as investment which is
used to buy products for selling. The products are then sold door-to-door
or through petty shops at home. On an average a Shakti Amma makes a
10% margin on the products she sells.
In general, a member from a SHG was selected as a Shakti entrepreneur,
commonly referred as 'Shakti Amma' received stocks from the HLL rural
distributor. After trained by the company, the Shakti entrepreneur then
sold those goods directly to consumers and retailers in the village. Each
Shakti entrepreneur usually serviced 6-10 villages in the population strata
of 1,000-2,000 people with 4-5 major brands of HUL - Lifebuoy, Wheel,
Pepsodent, Annapurna salt and Clinic Plus. Apart from these, other
brands included Lux, Ponds, Nihar and 3 Roses tea. The Shakti
entrepreneurs were given HUL products on a `cash and carry basis.'
However, the local self-help groups or banks provided them micro credit
wherever required. According to Dalip Sehgal, Executive Director, New
Ventures & Marketing Services, HUL Project Shakti was adding up to
15% of HLL sales in rural Andhra Pradesh. He further asserted that given
the largeness of the country and backwardness of its women, Project
Shakti-like endeavor would place everybody in a win-win situation.
Process
How HUL's Rural Model Works:
HUL's approach: can you get these groups as your brand ambassadors,
who can buy the products and sell them in their villages? HUL would
supply them the stocks, but the groups would decide who would do the
enterprising. The group could nominate one or two people to sell the
products. They could sell the products to other members in the group,
consume within the family or sell to others in the village. Every time a
woman sells, she makes a margin (10 per cent; retailers make 8 per cent).
If a group nominates a person to do the selling, the profits are ploughed
back into the group's kitty. But if the individual borrows from the group
to start the enterprise, the individual can retain the profits. Both models
exist, but HLL is increasingly realising that it's the individual model, and
not the group model, that works in reality. Banks lend the groups at an
interest rate of 12 per cent per annum or 1 per cent per month; the groups
in turn, lend it internally to their members at 24 per cent per annum or 2
per cent per month.
The potential: consider a village with a population of 1,000 people, and
an average spend of Rs 4 per head per month on personal products; now,
if everybody buys from this group, HUL's share of the rural consumer's
spend would be Rs 4,000 (Rs 4 X 1000). If half the people buy, HUL's
share of the consumer's spend would be Rs 2,000.
Now, consider the income potential for the women brand ambassadors or
the group. If she has a turnover of Rs 2,000 per month---at 10 per cent
gross margin---she makes a profit of Rs 200 per month. Assuming that
she would have borrowed this money (Rs 2,000) from the group, she
would have to pay an interest (at 2 per cent per month) of Rs 480 per
annum or Rs 40 per month. After providing for interest costs, she will be
still making a profit of Rs 160 per month or Rs 1,920 per annum. Thus,
by taking a loan of Rs 2,000 and retained earnings of around Rs 2,000,
she can double her capital by the end of the year.
But the situation on the ground is not really as rosy as these back-of-the-
envelope calculation may suggest. These women have to cope with
competition from retailers in the village. HUL is aware of the problems,
and the need to scale up the model. But since most of these women are
first-time entrepreneurs, HUL has launched the pilot with 12 SKUs to
keep things as simple as possible.

Distribution of Villages in India:

When HLL shifted to the rural India, it faced many problems. In contrast
with a low per capita income comparative to the urban citizens, there
were some areas with enough money but their awareness level and
consumerism was very low. Secondly, rural FMCG demand was
depended upon agricultural situation which was again depended upon
monsoon. Transportation was also a major hindrance. Many of the rural
areas were not connected by rail transport. The Kacha roads were
unserviceable during the monsoon and interior villages get isolated.
Besides transportation, there was a problem of distribution and
communication facilities such as telephone, fax and internet. Moreover,
the lives in rural areas were still governed by ethnicity and traditions and
people did not simply get used to new practices. For example, even rich
and educated class of farmers does not wear jeans or branded shoes. The

buying decisions in villages were slow and delayed. They wanted to give
a trial and buy only after being satisfied. And, finally the poor illiterate
villagers viewed experience more important than formal education and
they valued sales people who could provide practical solutions to their
problems.
REACHING THE UNREACHABLE GEOGRAPHICAL
AREAS:
Before the introduction of PS many unreachable remote villages were not
covered Due to lack of transportation facilities. The river Godavari flows
across E.G.Dt which makes many villages unreachable through roadways.
Contacting those villages is a difficult task. But PS made it possible.
The SE receives the stock at her door step from the stockiest. This
provision madeThe products reach the villages which are close to the
town. During the selling process,SEs reach the satellite villages (nearby
villages) and satellite retailers on foot or by
bullock carts or bicycles or mopeds or auto rickshaws. Some of the SEs
replied that they are crossing small water streams by boat to carry on with
their business.

Project Shakti is definitely a success story. Nevertheless to reach this

success it has to cross many stumbling blocks. PS could succeed with the
blend of efforts of large firms in collaboration with civil society
organizations and local governments. During the research it is observed
that some of the SHG are not cooperative with the local women.
Strong purchasing power of consumers is necessary to increase the
customer base Of the SEs. This is an uncertain factor which fluctuates
with the agricultural output. In some instances, the Shakti entrepreneurs
are turning out as competitors to the retailers in those villages. To
withstand in the competition, the retailers sell private labels for a lower
price. The entrepreneurs need intensive training in improving their selling
skills. The SEs are facing lot of problems in acquiring the investment.
Many SEs have opined that they will be comfortable if company provides
stock on credit basis. To our surprise there are respondents who are not
that economically deprived, but they joined with the interest of earning
and business leadership. Some of the SEs opined that they would be
comfortable working with female rural executives rather than male rural
executives.
On the whole the result of the research can be concluded that Project
Shakti is a massive success in the area of E.G Dt, India.
Conversation with two workers of project shakti:
1.Sankaramma:
Sankaramma, the leader of the local Kanaka Durga self-help Group
(SHG) belongs to K. Thimmapuram village's Muddaner Mandal in the
Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. The village has 350 households with a
total population of 1200. Sankaramma's 5 hectares of agricultural land
was not sufficient for six member family due to severe drought in the
region. She started a business in April 2003 with the Hindustan Unilever
Ltd. By 2005, she had a regular monthly turnover of Rs.10,000 per
month. Initially she sold door to door, but thereafter the customers started
visiting her home for products. She sees Project Shakti as a mean for the
bright futures of her children. Project Shakti also enabled her to provide
mid-day meals at the primary school in her village. Today, Sankaramma
has become a key development figure in her village

2.Usha Sarvatai
Usha Sarvatai, a mother of 2, traveled 32 km everyday to work. Her
husband's income was not sufficient for the two children and their old
parents. But the long distance and the odd timings of the job forced Usha
to quit the job. Then she got a call from the Government dept. to attend a
meeting, convened by Project Shakti. Usha became a Shakti Amma and
started a new venture. In a short span the good relationships she
developed with the villagers helped her do good business. She says, "I am
happy fulfilling my family's requirements and people give me a lot of
respect today." And she is now very eager to grow her business in the
years to come.
The list does not end here. Hindustan Lever Ltd., a subsidiary of Unilever
is counting on thousands of women like Sankaramma and Usha Sarvatai
to sell its products to the rural consumers it couldn't reach before. By
2005, around 13,000 poor women were selling the company's products in
50,000 villages in India's 12 states and contributed for 15% of the
company's rural sales in those states . The women typically earned
between $16 and $22 per month , often doubling their household income
which was used to educate their children. Overall, around 30% of
Hindustan Lever's revenue came from the rural markets in India Started in
the late 2000, Project Shakti had enabled Hindustan Lever to access
80,000 of India's 638,000 villages . Hindustan Lever's director of new
ventures proudly expressed, "At the end of the day, we're in business. But
if by doing business we can do something positive, it's a great win-win
model." Hindustan Lever was not the only company recognizing the vast
marketing potential in rural India. With the saturation of urban market,
the companies started reengineering their businesses and products to
target rural consumers who are poor but are rich in aspirations fueled by
the media and other forces