In December 2009, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Internet, the US Defense Department launched a national challenge. They released ten numbered red balloons at different undisclosed locations across the US. The challenge was for any individual or team to find the exact locations of all ten balloons and the reward offered was $40,000.Mathematically, this is a problem that cannot be solved by known algorithmic techniques. Nevertheless, the winning team from MIT located all ten balloons in less than 9 hours. This is considered an impressive achievement, not just for the short time taken to solve the challenge but also for the innovative nature of the solution technique employed.The winning MIT team exploited social networks and the hyper-connectivity of society to reach out to individuals across the world and to encourage them to either submit the locations of the balloons (if they knew it) or to encourage someone else who may know the location to participate. A cascaded system of rewards was employed to reward people for either giving the location of a balloon themselves or having identified someone who did.Imagine the power of the above solution for solving real world problems like locating a missing child or pinpointing known terrorists. To leverage hyper-connectivity, organisations are reaching out to people outside their boundaries to tackle complex problems that they cannot solve individually. The American video rental firm, Netflix used crowd-sourcing techniques to improve the accuracy of video rental suggestions by more than 30 per cent. Using a prize of $1m for the winning team, Netflix attracted hundreds of scientists and engineers from around the world who submitted complex mathematical solutions to help improve the firm's algorithms.Technology is an important (but not the only factor) driving our growing inter-dependencies. Consider the global nature of the financial crisis over the last years. Capital flows freely across boundaries and risk scenarios are inter-linked thus leading at times to contagion and financial pressures in multiple markets. Global trade is highly inter-connected and changes in key factors such as currency rates in one part of the world can have far reaching impacts in distant locations. Epidemics and health problems are also more mobile given trends in global migration and increased ease of travel with modern planes and trains.It is clear that we are living in an age of hyper-connectivity. This will only increase with time. Hyper-connectivity can cut both ways. It can help you as in the Netflix example. Or it can hurt you as with financial contagions or the viral spread of a negative message. Either ways, you have to be prepared for it. Do you have a choice?The author is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, France. He has authored several books on technology, policy and innovation.Comments on this note can be sent to: mail(at)soumitradutta(dot)com
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January is always a good month. The old year has ended and challenges faced over the last months are fast becoming a memory. Most of us are fortunate to have benefited from a well deserved break with family and friends. And best of all, we are looking forward to a year ahead with new opportunities and exciting possibilities.How can you make the most of the year ahead? Here are three ideas for you to consider.Less Is More: Strategic success is not just about making the right choices of what more to do next. It is also about deciding what not to do. We are often victims of our own success. We are high achievers and successful in what we do. We say "yes" too easily. The result is often quite evident. We are stretched, overworked and stressed. Our work-life balance suffers and in cases so does our health. Learning when and how to say "no" is as important (if not more important) than saying "yes". Decide what you will stop amongst your activities of last year before you take on new projects. Remember that less can be more.Be Bold: We are in the midst of tectonic shifts - be they be caused by the rise of emerging markets or the rapid transformation of technology. Now is not the time to be timid. You have to think big. You have to think of the future. You have to think global. You have to be innovative. You have to be bold to seize the opportunity. There are risks, but there are also global opportunities, regardless of which sector you operate in. Remember that what is seems like a risk for you is an opportunity for someone else. Will you hunt or be hunted?Do Good: Business cannot succeed in a society that fails. It is no longer enough to have a narrow focus on your business performance alone. The boundaries of business have shifted. You have to think of business and beyond. You have to think about how you can do good for the broader societal context in which your business operates. This is not just about having a corporate social responsibility program. This is about changing the mindset of your business. This is about making sure that doing good for society is hard coded into the DNA of your team.The year has just started. It is now up to you to make the most of the year ahead.The author is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, France. He has authored several books on technology, policy and innovation.Comments on this note can be sent to: mail(at)soumitradutta(dot)com
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While social media has been around for a few years, it's role in the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt has highlighted the importance of paying attention to monitoring and learning from social media.Recently, a UK PR agency responsible for overseeing the launch of an infant milk formula across Europe contacted Fisheye Analytics, a social media monitoring company based in Paris, with an urgent request. They had picked up a German blog, written by an irate mother, claiming that the milk had caused her baby to develop extremely itchy, unsightly rashes. Such a claim no doubt alarmed their client, a large multi-brand conglomerate. Fisheye Analytics ran the blog through their proprietary social impact calculator, a tool that discovers and sizes any blog or article's digital footprint as it spreads through social sharing channels like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Google Buzz. In minutes, the extent of the threat was known: the blog had not had significant shares or clicks in social sharing channels. Monitoring the spread over a 4-week period, it became apparent that it was not going viral. While the client opted to engage directly with the irate mother, they ruled out the need to make a public statement on the matter.With the level of access to stakeholders that social media affords, the often neglected communications function, researching public attitudes, is taking centre stage once again. While media monitoring tools aid in distilling statistically-backed insights from online conversation, the volume of information and its potential relevance to multiple functions within the organization, means that the organization must configure frameworks and processes to tailor ‘listening' and engagement towards the requirements of disparate internal stakeholders, marketing, sales, customer care, technology and R&D.A major component of any social media strategy is correctly combining content with platform and role, that is, knowing which networks or channels to engage on depending on the intended audience and knowing what to say and what your ‘right to play' in that area is. For example, drug firms have to be cautious participants in online disease-specific communities because consumers do not necessarily see them as impartial experts. Tonality and engagement style are also important in creating a favorable brand experience for social media-based customers. Furthermore, in the borderless, crowded online space, content becomes truly strategic. In the new realm of social media, high quality, on-brand content helps to exert influence over the development of one's brand message.Are you social media ready?
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Few today would go back willingly to a world without the Internet. For many young adults, such a world may even be impossible to conceive. Information and communications technology (ICT) and the Internet in particular have already changed the world dramatically and all indications point to an even higher rate of transformation of our lives over the next decade. While the precise nature of these transformations is difficult to outline accurately, technology trends are evolving in a few predictable directions over the next few years - what I term as the move towards SLIM technology:Social: ICT is becoming more intricately linked to people's behaviors and social networks. The horizons of ICT are expanding from the traditional processes and automation themes to include a human and social focus.Local: Geography and local context are becoming important. ICT provides an effective medium for linking people and objects (and processes) to the local environments. This will allow differentiation across local contexts and the provision of tailored services.Intelligent: ICT will become even more intelligent. People behaviors, individual preferences, object interactions and other aspects will be more easily stored, analysed and used to provide intelligent insights for action.Mobile: The wide adoption of the mobile phone has already brought ICT to the masses. Advances in hardware (screens, batteries etc), software (e.g., natural language interfaces) and communications (e.g., broadband wireless) will continue to make computing more mobile and more accessible.Today we live in a world where more people have access to ICT (usually a mobile phone) than to toilets or clean water or the electric grid. While researchers and industry observers have documented the positive impact of ICT diffusion on an economy's GDP - estimates show that a 10 per cent increase in mobile phone penetration is associated with a 1-per cent growth in GDP, we continue to be challenged by a simple but important question: Can we use ICT to improve the quality of life for each individual and societies at large?This question becomes particularly relevant given the important role played by ICT (in particular social media) during the recent political upheavals in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. Governments and public organisations are slowly realising the power of ICT in redefining governance and modes of engagement with citizens. However, institutional change remains slow and hard. For ICT to be used effectively, technology needs to be matched to the local context and be sensitive to people needs. Doing all this is not easy. The first law of technology change mentioned by John Gage of Sun Microsystems remains true even today: "Technology is easy. People are hard"The author is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, France. He has authored several books on technology, policy and innovation.Comments on this note can be sent to: mail(at)soumitradutta(dot)com
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Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. That, I think, is the primary value of empirical research and case studies. So that you know what are the general principles and can abide by them.One of the theories that I find easy to remember is Dr Jagdish Sheth's "Rule Of Three". This says that in any industry there can only be three big players and the others will all either fall by the wayside or transform to niche players. Growing industries may have three leaders who are displaced in turn by a new crop, until the final three emerge.I bring this up, because this year we're seeing the Rule of Three at brisk work in the Indian IT industry. First was iGATE buying Patni. Patni did not make it to the top 3 in the last shakeout, nor did it become a niche player. What happened was inevitable. iGate has been funded to take a shot at the Big 3. Cognizant, which started its life as a niche player has expanded over the years and has now thrown its cap at the No 3 slot, displacing Wipro. Dr Sheth sits on Wipro's Board which took the decision to have a change in management, recognising the danger before it. News reports say Infosys is seriously considering a reorganisation too, triggered by the performance of TCS and Cognizant. Mindtree has a great reputation but has not been able to hit the $1 billion mark nor is it content to be a niche player - its founder Chairman, Ashok Soota has left to start a new venture. Strategic differences are cited.HCL, a firm that unlike Wipro could not make the transformation from Top 3 in hardware to Top 3 in software has been following the "Blue Ocean" philosophy. They have followed a semi-niche strategy focusing on a few service lines and pushing hard for growth. Seems to be working for them!This jostling for the top 3 spots happens across industries - cements, cars, steel - just look at your own space. Mobile phones is another industry where there is a shake-up in progress, with new players like Micromax and Karbonn attempting to displace the earlier triumvirate. Another lens to look at this is whether to pursue market share or profitability. Obviously, to stay in the top 3, market share must be a priority, even over profitability.With a growth rate of 8.5 per cent and per capita income expected to touch $1000 for the first time - often a trigger for exponential growth in consumption - India will offer a host of opportunities to entrepreneurs. Remembering some of these management principles will help these creators of post-modern India stay successful.The message in the marketing bottle is clear - you either have to aim to be in the top 3 by market share, or you should specialise as a niche player. There is no middle road - just a nasty ditch!Jessie Paul is the managing director of Paul Writer, a marketing advisory firm. She is the author of No Money Marketing (Tata McGraw-Hill).
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Imagine 'office working' moves out from the office buildings into open spaces, where people work in Wi-Fi enabled gardens under the shade of solar petals generating their own energy and providing power to your laptop. While the idea may seem way too revolutionary but that is what exactly Amsterdam is trying under its 'Smart city project'.The aim of Amsterdam's 'smart city' project is to transform the entire city into a one of the smartest, sustainable cities of the world and a crucible for economic growth. The project has turned the city into a laboratory where companies, research students, universities and governments are coming together to test new concepts that are focusing on four aspects of the urban experience- living , working, transport and public spaces.- and is testing new projects under each of these category. This in effect may end up changing pretty much the entire urban living experience.A project that started in 2009 has till now attracted 132 global companies for testing cutting edge technologies in the city. From putting 21st century fuel cells into 17th century monuments to mega business districts powered by solar energy, the project is testing an eclectic range of technologies in the city.At homes the project is installing smart energy meters, people are participating in community meetings and even writing blogs where they discuss their energy saving experiences. At offices, buildings are generating decentralised energy through fuel cells, employees are pooling in money to buy solar panels and government buildings are being monitored online for their energy performance. In the transport sector the city is encouraging electric vehicles and the port of Amsterdam is allowing ships to plug in at ports for electricity rather than running diesel gensets.One of the most pertinent reasons for engaging a whole city in testing is that most of these future concepts are not just technologies. These are concepts that interact with the way people live. Therefore the behavioral aspects of these concepts, i.e. how people are affected or respond to these concepts is also a very important determinant in the success of these concepts. For e.g. palmtop was an amazing technology aiming to bring computing onto the palm yet the people never found the idea good enough, instead computing might actually shift to tablets. It is this human aspect that needs to be studied in introducing new concepts. This is exactly what the smart city project aims to do among other things.Students from local universities are collecting data and doing market research by installing smart energy meters in communities, analyzing what kinds of many meters they installed work and which ones don't. Local companies who are manufacturers of these meters are gaining consumer insights on these products. This will convert into leadership for these companies in such products and business domains. Needless to say this will convert into greater economic performance of local companies and city too. That is where economics, sustainability and innovation goals get together.Many of these projects may have limited direct influence but indirectly this boosts the ambitions of the city and their residents which multiply into deeper indirect results- both economic and social. For e.g. when the US drags its feet to achieve 3 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, Amsterdam is aiming at an ambitious 40 per cent reduction. Infact the project showed that the full scale potential of these projects is a whopping 50 per cent.A recent report from the government of the future centre and oxford economics appreciated the project for its ability to boost economic growth. The project beyond redefining urbaneness could also prove to be an engine of economic vibrancy and might just hold valuable lessons for many cities across the world tackling poor growth.Yash Saxena is a sustainability consultant with Emergent Ventures, a climate change mitigating consultancy. He also works on innovation evangelism with Techpedia
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Many wouldn't have heard the name of the metal dysprosium. Even the most enthusiastic chemistry boffin is likely to have missed out on this rare-earth metal. But dysprosium is one of the most magnetic materials known to humans and which is what makes it a miracle substance. Tiny quantities of dysprosium can make magnets in electric motors lighter by 90 per cent! And thus it finds its way into a variety of clean technology products like Windmills, Electric vehicles and Hybrid vehicles. It has the power to pack in more megawatts per windmill and squeeze more miles for every electric unit in electric vehicles at lower costs. Clean technology is a term used for a range of technologies like renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative transportation (electric vehicles, fuel cells) etc- which pretty much reads like a list of futuristic technologies. In short rare earth metals like dysprosium will fuel our future.And as the global commitments towards clean technology scale up commodities like dysprosium will find more and more favour. Clean technology future is not even dependent upon what happens of the global climate treaty. It is also a market reaction to changing global dynamics. There is no other reason why legendary investor Warren Buffett figures at the top of green investors list released by Times online in 2009. Commodities like dysprosium represent a range of rare earth metals which have interesting properties and therefore have the potential to cut costs, encourage innovation and accelerate clean technologies.But what makes this situation interesting is that China produces 99 per cent of the world's dysprosium output as the New York Times reports. And that doesn't stops at dysprosium. A range of rare earth metals- terbium, neodymium, europium and yttrium (sounds like a tongue twister!), all known to be very essential although in small quantities in a range of electronics and clean technologies. Again, China produces more than 95 per cent of all these metals. The near complete monopoly means that China can regulate the world prices of these commodities. It goes without saying that the clean technology future we're slowly inching towards will increase the prices of these commodities several times. But the strategic advantage of holding the supplies of these metals is not in exporting these commodities at no matter what level of zoomed up prices. Instead the strategic advantage lies in producing the value added clean technology goods with domestic supplies of these metals. The total amount of dysprosium used in an electric car may cost a mere $100 but a value added electric car would cost upwards of $30,000.The clean tech goods using such metals would be very competitive in the world markets in terms of either cost or performance. Therefore these metals could emerge as a key component in boosting competitiveness of clean technology goods and therefore decide to some extent as to who will emerge as the leader in global clean technology race. China is well aware of the fact and its recent policy decisions well illustrate the point.Uncontrolled export of these commodities has long been discontinued by China instead it has introduced export quotas that decide the maximum amount of these commodities that can be exported. Therefore the clean technology goods manufacturers in countries other than China can only access a part of the metal supplies. The rest of the supplies can only be availed by the manufacturers within China. Recently China has expressed its desire to further trim these export quotas.As Reuters report in 2011 China plans to cut the rare earth export quota by 35 per cent. This doesn't comes as a surprise as China seems to have realized well the tremendous potential of these metals and the role they can play in making China the leader in global clean technology race. As these quotas diminish - it will lead to lower access to these metals to manufacturers outside China while the manufacturers inside China will have greater and greater access to these metals. It would mean that either the manufacturers outside china compete with Chinese manufacturers without using such metals in their products or simply invest and set their shop in China. That could mean exodus of a lot of clean tech manufacturing to China.This exodus would mean that clean tech innovations around the world would move into China for manufacturing purposes where IPR laws are weak and reverse engineering/copying of technology by local manufacturers is known to happen. The prospects of this could well take the steam out of the innovation wave that cleantech sector is witnessing and could make governments across the world wary of investments in cleantech R&D. In last two years US government has invested roughly $450 million in its ARPA-E program for R&D in energy as reported by the agency.Although the time is too early to tell if the strong hold of China on these metals would continue. As the world community has recently woken up to this reality. During a recent diplomatic standoff with Japan, China shut its export lines of rare earth metals to Japan. As Businessweek reported this adversely affected Japan's manufacturing. Similar shipments were also stopped for Europe and US. It has spurred US and Japan to widen their supply sources for rare earth metals. They are talking to Russia, India and a host of other world countries now to avoid this spectre.The juggernaut of clean technology is certain to keep rolling and it will be hard to tell if the world community would be able to avoid China taking over the race. But if China is adamant to capitalise this situation then there is pretty little that can stop China— as it fully understands that this leadership means billions of dollars in export revenues- except until we innovate our way out of it, or mine the alternatives or throw the WTO book out of the window. Yash Saxena is a sustainability consultant with Emergent Ventures, a climate change mitigating consultancy. He also works on innovation evangelism with Techpedia
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The eighteen days in Egypt that shook the world will be known in history for passion, dignity and extraordinary restraints on the part of her both ordinary citizens and armed forces. Unlike the Soviet revolution in the last century which sowed the seeds of violence right from its inception, events in Egypt stand in stark contrast with its force of non violent ideals and is almost sure to inspire many uprisings in other parts of world placed in similar situations.However, this victory for the freedom seekers in Egypt could be short lived if the process of transition towards the establishment of a fully fledged democratic system is left incomplete. The completion of the unfinished task requires changes in the mindset of US policymakers and overhaul of Egyptinternal political structure simultaneously and within a short period. If the job is undone or done in a half-hearted manner, not only Egypt will be in limbo but its repercussions will be felt throughout the Middle East and beyond in the emerging countries.The enormity of the whole task in the forthcoming days originates from a number of important factors. First, the interwoven connections between economics, politics and religion of the most indispensible commodity in the world known as oil placed the whole problem on a sticky path. Though not a major oil producing country, Egypt controls a huge part of the waterways and trade due to its strategic location near the Suez canal. This important waterway connects the Mediterranean and Red sea over which the merchant ships navigate between Europe and Asia. Almost, 2 million barrels of oil and 4 per cent of the world crude oil output and 14 per cent of the global liquefied oil move through this route. Second, the importance of Egyprole in the geopolitics of the region can hardly be exaggerated. Though it had fought wars with Israel off and on but it is also the only Arab country to have signed peace treaty with her and very often it acts as a political negotiator between Israel and various enemies in the region and thus has been an important ally of US for the last three decades.Third, the possible contagion effects that can erupt sporadically in parts of Middle East and North Africa and Iran and destabilise the economies beyond geographical boundaries of the Arab world at least in the medium term. However grand lip service the Western political world offers to freedom, it is an unpalatable fact that in the globalized financial market, there is no In addition, the extra yield on sovereign bonds has already started moving up and so were the costs of insuring sovereign bonds, sparking the fear of capital flight from the emerging markets in Middle East and elsewhere. Finally, soaring oil prices (already crossed $100 a barrel without much signs for subsiding) together with food, commodity and resource prices inflation would create unrest in the economies that have no connection with this region.To avoid instability originated from this region and spill-over effects outside, it is a must that both external conditions in the region and current internal structure of Egypt must undergo sea changes. Among the key factors external to the region which should change immediately is the long-standing US policy of appeasement towards all forms of Middle East dictators. The giant superpower had developed a tripartite arrangement over the years in this region along the following lines: The country would extend political, economic and military support to ruling regimes and in exchange the latter would ensure uninterrupted extraction, supplies and marketing of oil and natural gas and also would remain neutral in conflicts with Israel.This dual and symbiotic relationship so far had worked well in the region until last month. All oil rich Arabian countries thus have so far unfettered autocracy together with market oriented oil policy and are also major beneficiaries of US aid. The Egyptian army used to receive $1.5 billion annual sum from the US in exchange for a promise to honour its commitments towards its donor. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria and their oil rich cohorts exhibited the same patterns all over. The various regimes of dictatorships either in the form of monarchy or via army flourished by trampling voices of opposition but in exchange offered economic concessions towards the poorest in the form of price control, export restrictions and various subsidies which are normally financed via a combination oil revenues and US aid.This symbiotic relationship was apparent from the conflicting stands that US adopted all throughout the Egyptian crisis. It is crystal clear that such a with the dictators can bring stability for only a temporary period unless the regime is truly benevolent towards its subjects. Hence, the time is ripe for a changed US policy that would delicately balance between her interests on oil and Israel with those of rising aspirations of ordinary citizens of these countries which so far has received no priority from any US President. True, the current administration, towards the end, took a tougher stand against the autocratic regime but it did not emerge as a well thought-out policy but was a clever response to situations that grew out of hands.On the internal side, a great deal of transformation must occur inside Egypt that might usher a democratic set up in the fall when election is due.Of course, this is much easier said than done. There is no automatic switch that would trigger such a smooth transition. In order to succeed, the process requires development and nurturing of legal (court), political (free and fair election), civic (a secular and impartial constitution ensuring freedom of speech) and economic (independent central bank) institutions that would act as checks and balances to curb the rise of extra constitutional power in the future. Hence, any process of transition of power that would write new constitution should combine a pluralistic team consisting of historians,legal scholars and economists along with the representative political parties, under the supervision of the credible army personnel. The balance is delicate. More power to scholars or political parties may lead to further indecisiveness or giving birth of a dominant extremist group hijacking the basic agenda and on the other hand too much power to army in the process of transition would defeat the very purpose of creating a free Egypt.The task of creating a superstructure for building up of a successful democracy from an autocracy is colossal for other endemic intrinsic factors. A big casualty of any form of dictatorship is the systematic destruction of institutions as appointments at all levels are made on the basis of unflinching loyalty to the regime and without any consideration towards meritocracy or competition or both. And Egypt is no exception. Due to uninterrupted power, the army had all pervasive economic interests ranging from farms, real estate to army supplies. It is one thing to dislodge an old dictator but it is a completely different ballgame to initiate a process that would ensure both economic and political institutions at the expense of militarystrong economic interests scattered all over the country.Thus, it is true that the future of the transition process does not look very smooth from todaypoint of view, but achievement of such a goal is not completely utopian other. It had happened in Turkey where the army is still today a guardian of secularism and democracy. The most shining ray of hope in current Egypt is her educated middle class who can solidify the process through participation in a future democratic set up. But will it finally happen in the country? Come September and we will know more on this.The writer teaches at Essex Business SchoolHe can be reached at sbanerji(at)essex(dot)ac(dot)uk
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A large population isn't necessarily the driver of greater FMCG consumption or faster growth. Indeed, for most of the states that have exhibited sluggish growth rates in previous years, the per capita FMCG consumption continues to be lower than the national average. So what's changed? A closer look at the fastest growing states shows a clear point of departure in more recent times and all signs point to a stronger and more perceptible impact of governmental stimulus in these states. While more prosperous states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra continue to indicate a stable growth trend, states that were previously fettered by more anemic growth rates have now come into their own. For instance, markets like rural Bihar, UP, MP, Orissa etc. are witnessing stronger growths. To drive the growth of a large geographic remit however requires both scale and speed. In order to identify the next wave of rural growth requires a focus on large, populous states that have managed to acquire greater pace. This requires looking at markets that contribute a significant proportion to rural India's FMCG growth and, due to the high rate that they are growing, are also contributing disproportionately to overall growth as well. For instance, Chhattisgarh, despite its impressive growth rate, contributes no more than 1.5 per cent to India's overall rural FMCG market and therefore doesn't make the list of growth drivers. While Maharashtra, though not in the list of the top 10 fastest growing markets, is driving growth for rural FMCG, due its sheer size with a contribution of 11 per cent to India's FMCG market. In the list of growth drivers, again, states that were previously considered weaker markets in terms of growths now see themselves alongside relatively prosperous peers. The markets of UP, West Bengal, Karnataka, Orissa and MP for instance all find themselves surging forward with high double digit growth rates despite their large absolute size and contribution to the Indian FMCG market. While evaluating markets for growth, it is natural to look at overall growth rates for evidence of evolution but the underlying factors remain critical to business. The rural consumer is transforming rapidly across states. With growing confidence and a sense of certain, tangible progress, the rural mindset is now open to private consumption in newer, more contemporary forms. Whether it is consumption of cream-biscuits and cookies, indulgence in ready to cook noodles or the usage of colored powder hair dyes, the age of individual gratification is gradually, but certainly replacing frugality and austerity. This more than anything is the leading indicator of things to come. As companies identify latent and emerging needs that are defined by consumers, and reformulate their distribution and channel strategies to align with the new 'Demand Chain', the rural market for products and services is set to scale previously unachieved heights. Base: FMCG Sales Value - Moving Annual Total - Sep 2010 Growth: Moving Annual Total Sep 2010 over Moving Annual Total Sep 2009 Contribution to Rural India example: (Rural UP as a percent of Rural India = 16.8 per cent) Rural India's Top Growing States: Top 10 States based on Rural Growth per cent Rural India's Top Growth Drivers: Top 10 states based on overall contribution to Rural India Growth taking size as well as growth into account. Prashant Singh is VP, The Nielsen Company and Prasun Basu is VP & ED, The Nielsen Company
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