With almost 70% of the total Indian population residing in rural areas, auto majors in the domestic market are betting big on the hinterlands to ensure a decent and sustainable growth in the passenger car segment.

Be it the market leader, Maruti Suzuki that banks around 10% of its total passenger car sales from the rural parts of the country or the challengers like Hyundai Motors India and General Motors India, almost all the auto majors expect the future growth to come from the rural India.

After enjoying the urban boom from the 1970s when the demand actually picked up in the 1990s, the rural parts of the country have always been untapped and hence today stand as a lucrative opportunity for the auto majors.

In fact, Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive - Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki recently explained the fact that almost 80% of the total sales of Alto, WagonR, Estilo and Omni comes from the rural parts of the country. Experts believe that high inspirational value, easy availability of credit and rising disposable incomes are some factors that are contributing to the growth of automotive sales in the rural parts of the country.