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Ramamurthy Sivakumar
Managing Director
Sales and Marketing Group
Intel South Asia
“Rural markets do not wait for urban innovations. Rural markets do not wait for companies to innovate and solve their problems. They use native intelligence to address challenges.” In explaining how Intel looks to capitalize upon these native strengths, R. Sivakumar, Managing Director, Intel, South Asia captured the reality of the innovation opportunity coming from hinterlands of India during his presentation at the Accenture Global Convergence Forum.
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Rural consumers ask tough questions and want to see direct benefits from the money they spend, Sivakumar said. Companies must therefore constantly ask themselves about their preparedness to answer these tough questions before thinking of approaching the rural markets.
Speaking about the heterogeneity of the rural consumer base, he pointed out that agriculture is no longer the only driver of rural incomes. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Program run by the Government of India has given a boost to formal purchasing power by ensuring an upward movement in the benchmark minimum wage rate, he said. These alternative sources of income are generating a host of “micro-money” opportunities that need to be tapped into by designing innovative products, according to Sivakumar.
To address these emerging rural opportunities, organizations need to change their conventional corporate groundings. Social innovation and shareholder value should be of equal importance, he said.
Commenting on the elements of effective business models for India, Sivakumar highlighted the importance of focusing on investing in the creation of programs that have the potential to create markets in future. Referring to these actions as taken in “enlightened self interest,” he explained how Intel was investing in training of teachers and exposing rural India to computers and technology with the goal of converting them into customers and thereby driving Intel’s growth in the future.
Sivakumar emphasized using the price/value equation as a tool to promote inclusive, market-led growth. Citing the example of FINO®, he showed how technology has been used to allow banking to reach more than seven million consumers at the bottom of the income pyramid. Answering questions focused on scaling of innovation in the Indian scenario, he outlined the importance of working closely with the government. “Government needs to be a part of any initiative to ‘scale’ effectively,” Sivakumar said.
Biography of Ramamurthy Sivakumar
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As managing director, sales and marketing group, South Asia, Mr. Sivakumar is in charge of all sales and marketing operations for Intel products and technologies for all the South Asian countries (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh). He is also responsible for leading Intel towards becoming a platform-oriented organization as well as driving Intel’s ‘World Ahead’ initiative which focuses on PC penetration for the next billion citizens in emerging markets.
Prior to this, he was Worldwide Director, Business Development for the Mobility Group at Intel and responsible for developing the industry ecosystem and creating alliances around Intel’s Mobility products. Previously, he served as Assistant Treasurer and Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Intel.
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