India’s rural retail opportunity is currently estimated to be in excess of Rs 1400 billion ($34 billion).
The figure is likely to touch Rs 1800 billion (approximately $43 billion) in 2010 and go up to Rs 2400 billion (approximately $58 billion) by 2015, a CII - YES Bank Study reveals.

The study on the Rural Retail sector was formally released during a conference on rural retail organised by the Northern Region of CII. Speaking at the conference Yes Bank, President-Corporate Finance and Development Banking Somak Ghosh said India’s rural markets are growing at double the rate of urban markets.
The total number of rural households is expected to rise from 135 million in 2001-02 to 153 million in 2009-10 giving a tremendous push to the rural retail opportunity, he said quoting a study. “The rural revolution is driven by rising purchasing power, changing consumption patterns, increased access to information and communication technology, improving infrastructure and increased government initiatives to boost the rural economy,” Ghosh said.

Prominent players
As per an estimate by the Technopak, a leading research body on market trends,  the size of the Indian retail market is at present around $300 billion with the rural-urban split in the ratio 55 – 45.

The rural market consumes about 53 per cent of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and 59 per cent of durables in India, the Technopak estimate shows.

Some of the prominent players in the rural retail sector in India are DCM Shriram Consolidated, Tata Chemicals, Godrej Agrovet, ITC, Triveni Engineers and Industries and Indian Oil Corporation.