PIMT Journal of Research Volume-13, No.-3, Special Issue (April-May) 2021 UGC Care Listed Journal PP: 142-146 ISSN No: 2278-7925 142 | Page CHANGING PARADIGMS OF RURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR FOR DURABLE PRODUCTS IN INDIA * Rahul Kumar ** Md. Shahnawaz Abdin * Research Scholar, Department of Management, SMBS, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi ** Assistant Professor, Department of Management, SMBS, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi ABSTRACT We through this paper make an effort to identify the factors that affect the purchase behaviour of rural consumers for durable products; assess the influence of these factors on rural consumer behaviour; and assess the future scope of rural marketing in India and also, suggest appropriate strategies to tap rural markets in India for durable products. Our study shows that the price of the product; advertisements; word of mouth by others; the family and friends have an important bearing on the behaviour of rural consumers for durable product purchase. The brand name; product attributes; warranty of the product; and the culture and tradition have a very strong impact on the durable product purchase behaviour of rural consumers. The rural markets of India have an enormous opportunity and they can drive the modern day marketing. KEYWORDS: Rural Marketing, Consumer Durables, Purchase Behaviour, Marketing. 1. INTRODUCTION Marketing is said to be the vital element operating in an economy which plays a key role in economic growth and development of a country. It is marketing that makes the life of masses easier through facilitating goods and services that can be exchanged for satisfying human needs and wants. With the passage of time, marketing evolves itself and many new concepts and philosophies are incorporated in it. New forms of marketing, new methods of doing business, new ways of interacting with customers etc. emerge from time to time in marketing. Sometimes, marketers need to explore a totally new market to survive in this hyper-competitive world. One of such marketing that has been proved to be an alternative for the marketers in times of economic difficulties is the “rural” market. The rural market has gained importance in the last 3-4 decades but it has become a center-stage of marketing in the last 1-2 decade(s). The urban markets nearing to their saturation levels, threats from globalization, stiff competition from rivals in urban markets etc., have been major reasons for the emergence of rural marketing. Rural marketing has become the favorite destination for every marketer. The Indian rural markets owing to the large population for which they are home offer a huge market potential that has not yet been explored. The Indian rural markets have become a favorite destination for every marketer for its promising future. Every marketer wants to enter this market. But entering this market is not easy. For it has many complexities and it is very difficult to understand the rural consumers of India. Consumers in rural India have a very different behaviour from that of urban India and applying the urban marketing tactics in rural markets of India will not reap any fruits for marketers. Companies need to devise tactics after a thorough study of rural consumer behaviour. This paper has been divided in 8 parts and each part deals with a specific aspect of paper. These parts cover introduction, literature review, research gap, objectives, research methodology, data analysis, conclusion, and references. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Rural marketing is defined as a function that manages all the activities involved in assessing, stimulating and converting the purchasing power of rural consumers into an effective demand for specific products and services and moving these products and services to the people in rural areas to create satisfaction and a better standard of living and thereby achieving organizational goals (Iyer, 2009). Rural consumers have a very high level of ethos (Kumar & Bishnoi, 2007), marketers should take all the efforts not to hurt the sentiments of rural consumers in any form of advertising as this may have adverse impact on the perception of rural consumers. Jain & Hundal (2007) found the need for consumer education as an integral part of rural marketing strategy. Kumar (2009) found that the rural consumers made purchases from unorganized retailers in case of FMCGs and in case of durables, they purchased it from both unorganized and organized retailers. Rafiuddin & Ahmed (2011) found that there is a huge potential in rural markets, rural consumers are becoming brand conscious as well as price and discount conscious. Goel (2012) concluded that rural consumers are more influenced by the pricing and advertising strategies of the business firms. Kashyap (2012) argues that rural consumers have their own settings and are largely governed by their culture and customs. Author also underlines the changing scenario of rural markets in India. He says that the rural consumer is becoming more literate and value driven and the greatest change is taking place amongst the rural youth, who are rapidly getting exposed to urban products and services. Same is found by Abdin & Kumar (2020). As far as the social factors are concerned they have a strong bearing on the behaviour of rural consumers (Giles et al., 2013), meaning that marketers must engage with local communities as well as their external audiences. The study finds that there is significant relationship between social and economic