Douglas Bullis goes beyond the usual superficial accounts found in the usual import/export books and provides something truly unique: an in-depth analysis of what India needs from the rest of the world, not what the world can get out of India. What most businesspeople don't know, and what is crucial if they are to succeed in their transactions with India, is what India needs from them—and not always is this mere capital. Bullis describes the rise of India's middle class and consumer economy since 1991, and provides readers with what very few outsiders know: how India really works. The result is an essential resource for corporate management in marketing, sales, strategic planning and investment, and important collateral reading for students and teachers of international business. Bullis argues that India has long been misunderstood by the West. Now, as the business climate goes global, India looms as the largest country in the world to embrace the market economy. As India emerges as a mass consumer market and a major low-cost manufacturing center, not only the Indian economy, but the world economy is likely to be changed. If overseas businesspeople are to enter India and compete successfully, they need a clear, broad, up-to-the-minute and useful view of the country, its markets, its resources, and its people. In this book, Bullis provides just that.

This book focuses primarily on business strategy and decision-making as it relates to India's consumer markets. It explores various market strategies and examines the failures of those companies that tried - but failed - to enter the Indian market in the 1990s. The book also looks at the possibility that the centre of gravity of the global consumer market might be shifting from the West to China and India. Featuring one-of-a-kind insights into the unique makeup of the Indian market, this book offers an enlightening look at the consumer future.

Taking cues from economics, demography, history, culture, philosophy and good old common sense, Rama Bijapurkar makes sense of the complex and inscrutable Indian market-the many Consumer Indias, their diverse and schizophrenic consumer behaviour and the way to make your company's fortune in this billion-plus market. Irreverent and insightful, this book answers the questions to twelve key facets of Consumer India. Bijapurkar explains why the Indian consumer market is 'like that only', why it will not change in a hurry, and what it takes to develop a winning 'made for India' business strategy. 'Rama has developed a very strong case for learning about India on its own terms before investing. This book is a critical read for anyone considering building a large presence for themselves in India.'-From the Foreword by C. K. Prahalad, author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid

What does Consumer India look like in the third decade after liberalization, as India’s GDP approaches its third trillion? In her new book, Rama Bijapurkar, author of the best-selling We Are Like That Only, analyses the complex contours of India’s consumer economy – demand structure, supply environment, income demographics, social and cultural changes and much more – and pinpoints the existing opportunities, the unserved needs, the incorrect assumptions, the minefields of the future and the strategy imperatives needed to ride this next big wave of opportunity. For businesses and investors betting on India’s future, for policymakers and regulators shaping the new India and for all those curious about India’s progress, this is an immensely insightful and utterly realistic assessment of one of the biggest growth markets in the world.

This report provides a practical and comprehensive guide for business people and corporate executives contemplating inroads into the Indian consumer market. India's recent accelerated pace of economic liberalization has contributed to industrial and technological development. Opportunities have widened, both for a growing middle class and an increasingly affluent rural market. This work provides an historical perspective of the market as well as an overview of the country region by region. It covers the main urban areas and studies consumer patterns in the four major cities of Delhi, Madras, Calcutta and Bombay, as well as analyzing pockets of rural penetration. The report tells where the Indian consumers are, what they need and want and how to get products and services to them. Several national and multinational case studies are documented.

Brands and businesses from across the globe have tried to leverage the India opportunity, based upon simplistic and widely-held assumptions. This book takes a critical look at these myths and contradictions from an inside perspective, presenting a fresh and nuanced perspective on the opportunities that the Indian market offers. It draws upon a wealth of data, from consumer research, market data, macroeconomic research, popular culture and case studies, to provide a thorough and compelling insight into what makes for success in the complex Indian market, based upon two decades of experience.