MARKETING SHERPA -- July 25 -- With 1.1 billion people, India is second to China in terms of population, and its gross national income per capita remains low at $630 US for 2004. While Hindi is the country's national language (the government recognizes 22 languages), India has the second largest population of English speakers in the world -- more than 150 million. More than 500 million Indians are under age 21. The median age is 24.6 vs 30 in China, 36 in the US and 38 in the UK. 70% live in 550,000 villages and the remainder in 200 towns and cities. The marriage business is big business, with arranged marriages still the norm. Shaadi.com is India's biggest matrimony portal. 4.5% are online, typically just three hours per month. There were 77 million mobile phone subscribers by the end of 2005 growing 60% a year. Mobile services revenues (horoscopes, cricket scores, SMS, ring tones) topped $5.6 million US in 2005. Indians like to use credit and debit cards, but not to make online purchases because they're afraid of online credit card fraud. India lacks a "safe" online payment system. Hence, airlines have formed partnerships with gas stations so travelers can go to a gas station to pay for transactions in cash or via money order. If you want to spread your message you should have less reliance on straight banner ads and more on email and SMS to propagate your message. Samples of 4 Indian Online Campaigns
Top-tier Indian portals: 123India, Google, MSN, Rediff, Yahoo.
Association sites: DMA, Internet & Mobile Association, ISP Association, Mobile Marketing Association's Int'l Journal of Mobile Marketing, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Agencies/Consultancies: BC Web Wise, The Hackett Group, Wunderman India.
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