MUMBAI: A seminar on the challenges of rural marketing in the 21st century is being organised by the Rural Network on 6 August 2004 at the Taj Residency in Bangalore.

The Rural Network is an informal alliance which started two years ago by four leading rural agencies namely Anugrah Madison (Chennai), Mart (Delhi), Rural Relations (Pune) and Sampark (Mumbai). Each of them is specialised in one aspect of rural marketing apart from being a regional specialist. Through various initiatives, the Rural Network has been promoting the cause of rural marketing.

In the context of the focus of the new budget on agriculture and the consequent boost it is expected to give the rural economy, the rural market is bound to pick up. Though many corporates are talking about going rural, the seminar will examine if the initiatives taken by the corporates are enough and what needs to be done to take the products to the hinterland of the country.

The speakers include Pradeep Kashyap of Mart, N D Badrinath of TNS India, J Ravindra Kumar of ITC (Secunderabad), Rama Bijapurkar from Strategic Marketing Consulting, Karthik Raina from Dalmia Consumer Care, K G George from TTK Prestige, Harish Bijoor of Harish Bijoor Consults, Rajesh Jejurikar of Mahindra & Mahindra, R V Rajan from Anugrah Madison, Pradeep Lokhande of Rural Relations and R A Patankar of Sampark.

According to the organisers, the seminar will be of interest to all those involved in marketing and management from the world of advertisers, ad agencies and media.

The seminar is supported by Deccan Herald, Bangalore and Businessline (The Hindu Group) is its media partner.