In the 50th year of our existence, the Annual Convention - the Flagship event of the first management school of India - will be an opportunity for corporates, prominent thinkers, and management students to interact, discuss, think and evolve new ideas to solve the most vexing contemporary issue of them all - Rural India.

FMS Annual Convention is an event hosted by FMS and is one of the steps taken by the institute to maintain excellent relations with the industry. The event helps us to stay in touch with the best practices, changing rules and path-breaking innovative ideas in the corporate world so that the students can be constantly trained to be a part of the dynamic market-oriented global economy they are soon expected to join. FMS is known for the high quality and standard that it has maintained all through the years and 'The Annual Convention' contributes to it and is also a testimony to it!

Over the years 'The Annual Convention' has become a brand in itself and sees participation from the best in the management world. It provides a forum to academicians, the industry and to students associated with management to deliberate on issues of importance, which are affecting business and its conduction the world over. It is a keenly awaited event that stimulates each participant to view the issue from every perspective and appreciate every dimension of the problem at hand.

FMS ANNUAL CONVENTION - 2004 - WINDS OF GROWTH: EXPANDING BEYOND THE URBAN

The Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi
30th October 2004

Over 700 million people or approximately 70% of the Indian population in half a million villages - that is the truth of rural India even today! A sector whose importance was seemingly eclipsed in the recent past is back in the limelight again, simply because we just cannot afford to ignore it! Even as one India races ahead with optimism towards the future, there is another India, which seems to be stuck in the past. If India as a nation has to progress, there is little doubt that Indian villages too have to progress.

Transforming Rural India is a challenge that should focus the best of Indian minds - it is perhaps the single biggest barrier to making India a developed country, and achieving the 10% growth that we envision for the country. India's villages need disruptive innovations to make the giant leap forward. Convention 2004 attempts to discuss the stumbling blocks, the solutions and the efforts that need to be made to integrate rural India with the rest of the country and to end the rural-urban divide.

Session 1: Panel Discussion - Vision India: Can the Heart of Indian growth lie in the Heartland of India?

It almost sounds like we've entered a vicious cycle- we can't progress if the rural sector doesn't grow because of the huge population it supports- the sector can't grow till massive investments are made in rural infrastructure, education and health and in that scenario, other sectors must either patiently wait for their turn to receive incentives, as funds are limited or end up paying higher taxes. So are growth targets realistic if we depend on a sector that so often depends on the monsoons for its well-being? Can rural India drive India's growth or will the long-term perspective require many short-term sacrifices? Will the efforts to integrate rural India seem populist or will people believe in the dream? Does the solution lie in public-private partnerships? Can technology be the integrator? Can it be the panacea to the woes of the rural sector and help the latter join the mainstream? Where does the solution lie…

These are some of the issues that the first session would try to address.

Session 2: Marketers bullish on Rural India: How have they got it right?

Rural India - scattered geographically and diverse culturally, linguistically and economically! Yet every marketer is looking at the rural sector to increase penetration, not only because of the saturation in urban areas but also because of the huge untapped potential in the rural markets. These markets however are more complex than a continent as a whole. But not only are traditional FMCGs prospering even sunrise sectors like insurance, pharma and many others are reaping huge benefits in this sector. Are they applying new models, innovations, unique distribution strategies to tap this sector? Is there a paradigm shift in the business models applied to the rural markets compared to the urban markets? How are these markets changing the marketer's approach to business and his sensitivity to an entirely new customer set? Is the rural consumer very different or is he slowly adapting to become like his urban counterpart? But in all their efforts do marketers feel let down by the financial sector's inability to service the rural markets and has that been the reason for many of the innovations? Is the monsoon dependency a constant bother? How do these firms handle it and what is the road ahead…

Session 3: Financial Sector: Can it provide the necessary Impetus?

Rural India - the most unorganized sector in financial terms, offers a plethora of opportunities to the financial institutions to market their products and services like managing weather related risk, insurance programs for crops, micro-financing, etc. What then is impeding the growth of financial institutions in this sector? Administrative problems, lack of collateral security, regulatory framework, low initial returns - should they be huge deterrents for entry into this sector? Inspite of all this some private sector and foreign banks are looking at microcredit lending. Are stock markets over reacting then, when they fall in response to priority sector lending norms? But, Is legislation enough to fire the potential in this sector? If cross selling is supposed to be the mantra of urban banking, then why is it so conspicuously absent in rural India? Inadequacies in rural access to formal finance and the seemingly extortionary terms of informal finance for the poor provide a strong need and ample space for innovative approaches to serve the financial needs of India's rural poor. With lesser restrictions and increased incentives, could the rural sector be the next big thing for the financial world?