Socio Economic Factors & Trends in India

Population of India

India is the second most populous country in the world, with 1,336,286,256 (1.3 billion) people (May 2016), nearly a fifth of the world's population. Already containing 18% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2022, surpassing China, its population reaching 1.6 billion by 2050. Its population growth rate is 1.2%, ranking 94th in the world in 2013. The Indian population had reached the billion mark by 1998. Uttara pradesh is the most populated state around 16% of total and sikkim is the least around 0.05%in states while lakshdweep is least around 0.01% population in Union terrotories.

India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan; and, by 2030, India's dependency ratio should be just over 0.4. It project the future labour market and the production capacity.

Comparative demographics

Comparative demographics

Category                                            Global Ranking                References

Area                                                             7th  

Population                                                   2nd               

Population growth rate                           102nd of 212                in 2010

Population density                                    24th of 212                  in 2010

Male to Female ratio, at birth                 12th of 214                   in 2009

Population growth of India per decade

Census Year       Population          Change (%)

1951       361,088,000                             -

1961       439,235,000                          21.6

1971       548,160,000                          24.8

1981       683,329,000                           24.7

1991       846,387,888                           23.9

2001       1,028,737,436                        21.5

2011       1,210,726,932                        17.7

Literacy in India

Literacy in India is a key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate has grown to 74.04% (2011 figure) from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and of all nations, India currently has the largest illiterate population. Despite government programmes, India's literacy rate increased only "sluggishly", and a 1990 study estimated that it would take until 2060 for India to achieve universal literacy at then-current rate of progress. The 2011 census, however, indicated a 2001–2011 decadal literacy growth of 9.2%, which is slower than the growth seen during the previous decade.

There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women. The low female literacy rate has had a dramatically negative impact on family planning and population stabillisation efforts in India. Studies have indicated that female literacy is a strong predictor of the use of contraception among married Indian couples, even when women do not otherwise have economic independence. The census provided a positive indication that growth in female literacy rates (11.8%) was substantially faster than in male literacy rates (6.9%) in the 2001–2011 decadal period, which means the gender gap appears to be narrowing.

The current literacy rate of India is 74.04%

Comparative literacy statistics

The table below shows the adult and youth literacy rates for India and some neighboring countries in 2002. Adult literacy rate is based on the 15+ years age group, while the youth literacy rate is for the 15–24 years age group (i.e. youth is a subset of adults).

Country	Adult Literacy Rate	Youth Literacy Rate ages 15–24
China	95.1% (2010)	99.7% (2015)
Sri Lanka	92.6% (2015)	98.8% (2015)
Myanmar	89.9% (2007)	96.3% (2015)
World Average	84% (2010)	89.6% (2010)
India	74.04% (2011)	90.2% (2015)
Nepal	55.5% (2007)	86.9%(2015)
Pakistan	50.2% (2007)	74.8% (2015)
Bangladesh	53.5% (2007)	83.2% (2015)

Urbanization

Urbanization in India began to accelerate after independence, due to the country's adoption of a mixed economy, which gave rise to the development of the private sector. Urbanization is taking place at a faster rate in India. Population residing in urban areas in India, according to 1901 census, was 11.4%. This count increased to 28.53% according to 2001 census, and crossing 30% as per 2011 census, standing at 31.16%. According to a survey by UN State of the World Population report in 2007, by 2030, 40.76% of country's population is expected to reside in urban areas. As per World Bank, India, along with China, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the United States, will lead the world's urban population surge by 2050.

Causes of urbanization in India

The main causes of urbanization in India are:

·         Expansion in government services, as a result of the Second World War

·         Migration of people during the partition of India

·         The Industrial Revolution

·         Eleventh five-year plan that aimed at urbanization for the economic development of India

·         Economic opportunities are just one reason people move into cities

·         Infrastructure facilities in the urban areas

·         Growth of private sector after 1990

Consequences of urbanization

Rapid rise in urban population, in India, is leading to many problems like increasing slums, decrease in standard of living in urban areas, also causing environmental damage.

The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century caused countries like United States and England to become superpower nations but the present condition is worsening. India's urban growth rate is 2.07% which seems to be significant compared to Rwanda with 7.6%. India has around 300 million people living in metropolitan areas. This has greatly caused slum problems, with so many people over crowding cities and forcing people to live in unsafe conditions which also includes illegal buildings. Water lines,roads and electricity are lacking which is causing fall of living standards. It is also adding to the problem of all types of pollution.

Sector Vise Changes in Economy

Indian economy is classified in three sectors — Agriculture and allied, Industry and Services. Agriculture sector includes Agriculture (Agriculture proper & Livestock), Forestry & Logging, Fishing and related activities. Industry includes Manufacturing (Registered & Unregistered), Electricity, Gas, Water supply, and Construction. Services sector includes Trade, repair, hotels and restaurants, Transport, storage, communication & services related to broadcasting, Financial, real estate & prof servs, Community, social & pers. Servs.

According to CIA Fackbook sector wise Indian GDP composition in 2014 are as follows :

Sector                   In 1950-51                      In 2014-15

Agriculture            (51.81%)                         (17.9%)

Industry                (14.16%)                         (24.2%)

Services                (33.25%)                         (57.9%)

Total production of agriculture sector is $366.92 billion. India is 2nd larger producer of agriculture product. India accounts for 7.68 percent of total global agricultural output. GDP of Industry sector is $495.62 billion and world rank is 12. In Services sector, India world rank is 11 and GDP is $1185.79 billion. Contribution of Agriculture sector in Indian economy is much higher than world's average (6.1%). Contribution of Industry and Services sector is lower than world's average 30.5% for Industry sector and 63.5% for Services sector.

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Socio Economic Challenges in India

Definition of 'Social Economics' Problems

Socio Economics Problems focuses on the relationship between social behavior and economics. Social economics examines how social norms, ethics and other social philosophies that influence consumer behavior shape an economy, and uses history, politics and other social sciences to examine potential results from changes to society or the economy.

At present time India faced many types of Socio Economic Problems :

1.     Religious violence : Constitutionally India is a secular state, but large-scale violence have periodically occurred in India since independence. In recent decades, communal tensions and religion-based politics have become more prominent.

2.     Terrorism : Terrorism in India has often been alleged to be sponsored by Pakistan. After most acts of terrorism in India, many journalists and politicians accuse Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence of playing a role. Recently, both the US and Afghanistan have accused Pakistan of carrying out terrorist acts in Afghanistan.

3.     Naxalism : Naxalism have spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradeshthrough the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

4.     Caste related violence : Caste-related violence and hate crimes in India have occurred despite the gradual reduction of casteism in the country. Independent India has witnessed considerable amount of violence and hate crimes motivated by caste. Ranvir Sena, a caste-supremacist fringe paramilitary group based in Bihar, has committed violent acts against Dalits and other members of the scheduled caste community.

5.     Overpopulation : India suffers from the problem of overpopulation. Though India ranks second in population, it ranks 33 in terms of population density below countries such as The Netherlands, South Korea and Japan. To cure this problem, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, had implemented a forced sterilization programme in the early 1970s but failed. Officially, men with two children or more had to submit to sterilization, but many unmarried young men, political opponents and ignorant, poor men were also believed to have been sterilized. This program is still remembered and criticized in India, and is blamed for creating a wrong public aversion to family planning, which hampered Government programmes for decades.

6.     Poverty : One-third of India's population (roughly equivalent to the entire population of the United States) lives below the poverty line and India is home to one-third of the world's poor people. Though the middle class has gained from recent positive economic developments, India suffers from substantial poverty. According to the new World Bank’s estimates on poverty based on 2005 data, India has 456 million people, 41.6% of its population, living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 (PPP) per day.

The World Bank further estimates that 33% of the global poor now reside in India. Moreover, India also has 828 million people, or 75.6% of the population living below $2 a day, compared to 72.2% for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Wealth distribution in India is fairly uneven, with the top 10% of income groups earning 33% of the income. Despite significant economic progress, 1/4 of the nation’s population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of $0.40/day. Official figures estimate that 27.5%[47] of Indians lived below the national poverty line in 2004–2005.[48] A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 25% of Indians, or 236 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day[49] with most working in “informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty.”

7.     Corruption : Corruption is widespread in India. India is ranked 72 out of a 179 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, although its score has improved consistently from 2.7 in 2002 to 3.5 in 2012. Corruption has taken the role of a pervasive aspect of Indian politics and bureaucracy.

8.     White Collar Crime : white collar crime as a “crime committed by persons of respectability and high social status in course of their occupation”. A white-collar criminal belongs to upper socio-economic class who violates the criminal law while conducting his professional qualities. Thus misrepresentation through fraudulent advertisements, infringement of patents, copyrights and trademarks etc.

9.     Unemployment :

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Message in Advertisement

Advertising Message 

The underlying message or point that the customer should get upon seeing the ad is called the advertising message.

Advertising messages tend to have the following common components:

The Appeal – It is the component that captures the attention of the consumer. It may be humorous like in Mentos ads, sexual like in Durex ads, adventurous like in Thums-Up ads or emotional as in insurance ads etc.

The Value Proposition – This component includes the basic value proposition offered to the consumer. This forms the main part of the advertising message.

The Tagline / Catchphrase – Every good ad campaign has a tagline, slogan or catchphrase that is repeated across all the different media in order to place firmly the product in the consumer’s mind.

An advertising message is the general idea that an ad will convey to the target audience. Most advertising campaigns are focused on conveying an advertising message to a target audience in order to convince them to purchase a product or service, investigate the brand further, and make the audience remember the brand name. This can all be done through several types of techniques, each focused on making the target audience remember the product or service and identify it with quality or expertise. The message can be delivered through various forms of media, including television, radio, print, word of mouth, events, and so on.

Several components make up the advertising message: the hook, the slogan, the appeal, and the value. Each component of the advertising message seeks to convince the target market that they should spend money on a product or service. The hook is a statement, image, video, or other type of media that grabs the audience's attention and compels them to find out more about the particular ad. This may be one of the most difficult aspects of the advertising message to come up with, as it will need to stand out above all other distractions that can keep the audience from noticing the product or services.

The slogan is a statement that is often repeated throughout the ad campaign to help the audience remember the business, product, or service. It is usually a catchy statement or series of words that sum up the product or service so the audience can remember and recall that product or service quickly and easily. Many companies will hire professional advertisers to come up with a slogan that will be effective for the target audience, as this task can be exceptionally difficult and may involve some trial and error.

The appeal is essentially a presentation of why the product or service will improve the lives of the target audience members. It basically presents the advantages of the product or service in such a way that the audience can make clear connections as to why he or she needs to invest money. This concept is closely related to the value, which is a presentation of how the product or service will save the audience members money; improve their lives, make positive changes, and so on. Very often the value is attached to a special deal; for example offering 25 percent off one's next purchase.

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Advertisement Copy: Classification, Qualities and Elements

Introduction

Text of a print, radio, or television advertising message that aims at catching and holding the interest of the prospective buyer, and at persuading him or her to make a purchase all within a few short seconds. The headline of an advertising copy is said to be the most important part, and quite often a small change in its wording brings disproportionate results. Although a short advertising copy is more common in consumer-product advertising, according to the UK advertising guru David Ogilvy (1911-1999) people do read (and listen or attend to) lengthy advertisements if they are skillfully written.

Most advertising copy is based on advertising/consumer research and is composed by professional copywriters hired by advertising agencies, also called advertisement copy, ad copy, or just copy.

Advertising copy must arrest, inform, impress and impel the reader.

A well defined advertising copy must perform the following functions:

(a) Attract Attention

(b) Command Interest

 (c) Create Desire

(d) Inspire Conviction

(e) Provoke Action.

An advertising copy may be classified as under:

1. Educational Copy:

It aims at educating the public, regarding the use of a product. Such an advertisement copy depicts the specialties of the product, in contrast to the existing ones. People keep certain habits which cannot be easily changed. Demand can be created when such habits are changed. This type of copy introduces new habits and attracts people towards the product.

2. Competitive Copy:

It aims at putting forth the special features of a product. It promotes to differ one brand from competitors’ brands. It meets the challenge of the competitors.

3. Institutional Copy:

It sells not the products of the institution but the name of the institution. Also known as PRESTIGE or CORPORATE advertising, this is the type of advertisement used to present the company’s image. When a pharmaceutical firm takes space it describes its research skills, its contribution to society etc. The copy aims to develop and maintain a good-will for the product that the product comes from a reputed house.

Example:

4. MISSIONARY COPY  aims at propaganda for the product.

5. PIONEERING COPY aims at educating the public.

6. GOODWILL COPY is one which does not try to sell a product but aims to sell the public some idea on the firm in general, on the quality of its product, its utility, etc.

7. SELLING COPY is used by the mail-order house to effect a sale by mail, or by the manufacturer who sells through retailers, to persuade the buyer to call for his brand at the retail store. It is used by the retailer to make an immediate sales of the goods, which he may have to stock.

8. REASON WHY COPY itself is clear as to its meaning. It explains the reasons to readers- why the advertised product is to be purchased. It aims at answering the questions raised about a product as to why, how and when the product is to be purchased.

9. HUMAN INTEREST COPY  makes its appeal to the emotions and the senses, rather than to the intellect and judgment. It may be of many forms: Fear Copy, Humorous Copy, Story Copy etc. The examples and statements of these copies are funny and readers smile or laugh. It affects the heart rather than the mind.

10. SUGGESTIVE COPY directly or indirectly conveys the message, which leads to sales.

11. EXPOSITORY COPY is not to conceal but to expose the facts as they are clear and concise ideas are given. It explains the construction, uses, merits, operation and superiority of advertised articles.

12. DESCRIPTIVE COPY conveys the ideas in words or pictures so as to impress the readers’ mind and thus act upon it.

13. ARGUMENTATIVE COPY is a message supported by facts.

Qualities of a Good Advertisement Copy:

An effective advertisement copy must have certain qualities which make it the best one. They are:

1. It Must Be Simple:

It must be simple and easy to understand. A copy writer must use short, simple, understandable words and sentences. The words or sentences used must be remembered by intelligent persons and non-intelligent persons. It must make people to see it, i.e., it should arrest their attention.

2. It Must Be Informative:

The copy must give the information which the reader wants to know about the products, in order to buy. Hence it must give the real fact. The information must be natural and straightforward. It must make people read it, i.e., people should be informed.

3. It Must Be Concise and Complete:

The copy must be complete and brief. If it is incomplete, it fails. Brevity is essential (condensation). Completeness should never be sacrificed for brevity. It must make people to understand it.

4. It Must Be Enthusiastic:

Salesman’s talk in the written form is the copy. The copy must tell the reader what the product or merchandise will do for him.

5. It Must Be Honest:

It must be honest and truthful towards the public. If the copy is untrue, then the confidence and the value of publicity go down. The public should not be cheated. The public, who are the final users of the products, are the witness of the product quality.

If inferior products are sold through false advertising, they have a short life. If the firm is hiding the facts, not exposing the real position, the product tells its own weakness to the users. If the advertisement is not honest, then the products will disappear from market and the firm will be closed down within a short span of time.

6. It Creates An Urge:

It must reveal unknown or unseen features of the products. The public should be informed about the product’s use and merits by the advertiser. It must create a goodwill in the minds of the public. Its aim must be to trust the firm and its products. It should have an effective salesmanship in absentia.

A Good Advertisement Copy:

1. It must make people to see it.

2. It must make people to read it.

3. It must make people to understand it.

4. It must make people to believe it.

5. It must make people to buy the product.

Elements of an Advertisement Copy:

There are certain principles, which an advertisement should have. That is it must aim to arrest, inform, impress and urge the readers to act on the advertisement.

The elements are known as values and they are:

1. Attention Value:

People are busy. They find time rarely. Almost all the people, who are able to make a purchase, do not have enough time. Under such situations, the advertisement must be able to attract the attention of readers, at a glance. There must be some specialty in the advertisement.

To make it more attractive, we may adopt the following devices:

(a) Pictures and drawings should have a direct bearing on the product.

(b) The headline must be good with a proper border.

(c) It must have a pleasing colourful presentation.

(d) It should not be congested i.e., there must be enough inter-space.

(e) The slogans must be lively.

(f) The coupons must be part of the advertisement.

By filling the coupons the needy customer must be able to get full information and thereby it becomes repeated advertisement to the seller.

2. Suggestive Value:

The message advertised should have some suggestive and useful value to those who go through the advertisement. The words or pictures in the advertisement should have commanding power on the readers. Repetition has good effect. When one comes across the advertisement every time, he begins to consider the product.

3. Conviction Value:

To be more effective, the statements in the advertisement must be genuine and accurate. Misrepresentation or exaggerative words must be avoided. Simple and plain facts have more effect on the readers to convince them than colourful or flattering wordings.

4. Sentimental Value:

The sentimental feelings or the prejudiced attitude of the reader should not be affected by the advertiser; but rather, they must be respected. The likes and dislikes, habits and customs etc., of the readers may be highly considered. It must appear that the advertiser is doing it for the readers.

5. Educative Value:

When products are manufactured for the first time, it is the duty of the producer, through advertisements, to draw the attention of the people and to tell them the use, merits, ingredients, special features etc., of the products. All people are alike, but their behaviour is different.

When the advertisement is able to change their habits and mould the tendency to use the products, the market for the products increases. People must have a feeling to see the advertisement through bearing eyes. It gives new information, suggestion and knowledge to people and directs them to go for the product.

6. Memorizing Value:

Advertisement must create a good impression on the reader’s mind. Slogan, if it is good to read and charming to hear, has good memorizing value. Repeating the advertisement often, through attractive brand name and catchy wordy slogans, may have a memorizing value in the minds of the readers.

7. Instinctive Value:

The advertiser must have a well-thought out plan to make a copy to be advertised. The matter or message must be arranged in such a way that the reader is able to understand and act on the message. The presentation is brief with questions tempting or compelling the people to act on. We can come across, an inducement, an aroused feeling, a temptation, an inclination etc., in such advertisements.

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