Maruti’s focus on Bharat pays off

Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest car maker, is betting big on robust sales across rural markets, as it crossed the 50-lakh sales milestone in rural markets within seven years.

With over 1,700 customised outlets in rural parts of the country, nearly 40 per cent of its sales now come from rural markets.

“The company was the first to believe in the potential of upcountry markets and in 2008, we laid out a focused strategy with a structured approach towards the rural hinterland, which was least affected by the global financial crisis then,” Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director (marketing & sales) at Maruti Suzuki India, said.

This strategy worked as rural contribution to the total car sales rose from 10 per cent in FY09 to 40.9 per cent in FY21, he pointed out, adding that rural car sales accounted for about 25 per cent of the total car sales of the industry.

Srivastava said Maruti Suzuki built the network carefully with the aim of ‘Ghar Ghar Mein Maruti’ (Maruti in every household) to tap the immense potential in rural India.

“And within seven years of our strategic focus on the hinterland, we achieved 50 lakh sales in rural India,” Srivastava said.

“Over the years, we have carefully studied the needs of this segment and while the aspirations of upcountry customer are very similar to those at metros, they demand more attention and care,” Srivastava said.

The company said it has set up over 4,000 service touch points, including 235 'Service-on-Wheels', to provide after-sales support to the rural customers.