New Delhi: Sitting on a cushion in one corner of his 15x20ft shop in busy Seepri bazaar in Jhansi, Shyam Babu Pandey shouts out to an assistant the household items on a customer’s shopping list. Jhansi, best known for the valorous 19th century queen Rani Laxmibai, is a so-called tier-II town in Uttar Pradesh, and for marketeers, it is an epitome of rural India.
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Pandey inherited the grocery shop from his father. Business has always been sufficient to take care of the family, he says, explaining why he had stayed on in Jhansi even though one of his sons had moved to Gurgaon, a New Delhi suburb known for its shopping malls and high-rise apartments, to work at a well-known outsourcing company.
That he stayed back may have been for the best. A few weeks ago, the son called to say that his company was cutting jobs because of some “aarthik ghotala” (financial mess) in the US and he may be headed back home soon.
The economic downturn that is taking a heavy toll on big city-based companies—from organized retailers and real estate developers to airlines and technology firms—hasn’t had any impact on Pandey’s business, sustained by a loyal base of customers built over the two decades that he has run the shop.
“Most families I cater to have an agricultural background,” Pandey says. “While they live in the city (Jhansi) because at least one or more members work either with the government or some private company, their basic income comes from the agricultural land they still own in the nearby villages.”
His customers have been a contented lot, happy to indulge themselves of late. They have good reasons: Agricultural production has been rising and a sharp increase in the minimum crop price assured by the government to farmers has boosted household incomes. Those employed by the government have received salary hikes ordered by the Sixth Pay Commission.
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“My customers are constantly upgrading their brands. Most families that used tooth powder till recently have begun using toothpaste.”
Pandey says his shop will be able to support his son if he were to come back. “Everything is growing here. He can even start a new business here,” he says.
Pandey’s optimism does not stem from misplaced pride in his hometown. It’s a phenomenon manifesting itself across the country’s so-called semi-urban and rural markets that are home to a vast majority of India’s billion-plus population.
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Watchmaker Titan Industries Ltdopened its third showroom in Salem, a small town in Tamil Nadu, earlier this month. “As a town, Salem is much smaller and has less buying power than Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai,” says Harish Bhat, chief operating officer, TitanIndustries.