BRAND PAPERS: Time and traditions.

Brand Strategy, December, 2004

Professor S. Ramesh Kumar says that good timing and an appreciation of cultural traditions are everything when targeting the Indian market

India is a country of contrasts. There's a mass market of people who depend on low-cost, non-branded offerings, a middle class that may buy FMCG brands and aspire to own durable products and a niche sector of upwardly mobile consumers with designer lifestyles.

The country has a population of around a billion people, yet only an estimated million computers and a million cars are sold every year. About 75% of India's population lives in around 625,000 villages (or hamlets) and about 80% of these have a population of less than 2,000 people. The country is divided into states with different customs, culture and...