• It covers 411 districts relating to 24 states and 7 union territories .of India.
• It covers 99% of India's population at a district level .
• The districts are graded and ranked in the order of economic prosperity both at state and All India levels.
• The Guide provides 49 indicators for each district and 122 indicators for each state.

Districts as geographical units

• For many product categories, urban and rural markets are equally important.
  This is true for product categories from soaps and toothpaste to refrigerators
  and televisions.
• Urban centres perform a dual role in marketing. They are markets in themselves and also act as distribution points for the rural hinterland. Focussing only on one , either urban or rural is only half the story.
• With increasing media penetration , rural areas are buying the same brands and products as urban areas.

Given the above reasons we believe districts are better units to identify markets than any urban/rural division.

• In this guide , all the districts of   India have been ranked  by their purchasing power.
• The ranking has been done both at an all India level and for each state.
• Reach of media has been reported for all districts.The only source of such
  Information for India.

The three main ranking measures of the guide are MPV , MPI and MEI.

• Market Potential Value ( MPV ) is the measure of aggregate purchasing power of the district
• Market Potential Value ( MPI) is a measure of the 'per capita' purchasing power of the district.

• Media Exposure Index ( MEI ) is a measure of the reach of media and is reported for each district. It measures reach of mass media ( print , television , radio and cinema ) and is reported for rural and urban areas of each district..
  
  
  
  
  

A wealth of Information

• The Guide has 49  economic indicators for each district and 122 economic indicators for each state of the Union,
• There are 35 digitized maps showing  districts with their purchasing power , railways, highways , major roads and airports. These are very helpful for any geographical planning.
• Statewise planning can be substituted by area priorities derived from high potential  contiguous district.Accompanying maps with details of urban centers, rail and road network

MARKET POTENTIAL INDEX (MPI):
The contribution of agriculture, industry and infrastructure to the economic status of a district have been used to measure the market potential of a district.Ten sensitive district parameters were applied on a per capita basis to develop a Market Potential Index (MPI) for every district.MPI is a weighted index ; the weights used being proportionate to the sectoral contributions of agriculture, industry and infrastructure to All India GDP.

MARKET POTENTIAL VALUE (MPV) :
The MPI was adjusted to the population of every district to arrive at the Market Potential Value (MPV) for that district - to aid in market planning.MPV scores are given both in absolute numbers and in percentages.

GUIDE TO SETTING MARKET PRIORITIES:
The districts of India have been classified into Metro, A , B and C grades depending on their  Market Potential Value. Marketers can use the MPV ( or the district grade ) to decide district priorities within the state.Inter-district comparison has been made easy by an intelligent presentation of tables, where all districts in most states can be seen at a glance , either in the same page or on facing pages.providing district data for every state in tabular form..

Click here for a glimpse.

A GUIDE TO MEDIA EXPOSURE :
Markets can be created and led by media.
Measure of media exposure has been reported at the district level in three ways - urban,rural & total.
These measures are provided for measured mass media - print,TV, radio and cinema.IRS provides data of media exposure for each town class and village class at state level.These data were projected to the districts, based on the population of each townclass and village class. These estimate media exposure were then linked to All India exposures.The All India exposures have an index value of 100.Any district with a lower than 100 value does worse in media exposure than India average and higher values indicate better media exposure.

URBAN CENTRES :
We have provided a list of 3544 towns out of 3697 census towns for the states/union territories studied in detail. These towns have been listed in descending order of population.The information on the remaining 153 towns belonging to smaller states and union territories has been given in their respective state "demography " pages.Further, for the 300 largest towns ( with population greater than 100.000), literates, main workers, occupied residential houses, etc. has been provided.Number of bank offices , advances given and deposits have also been given for 150  important towns.