This document summarizes interviews conducted with various sellers at the Gandamunda Haat market in Bhubaneswar, India. It describes the market's history and operations. Key points include: - The market was established in 2006 and has 176 vendor stalls. - Sellers discuss the types of vegetables and packaging approaches they use to maximize sales and minimize risks and costs. - Interviews also note transportation sharing between vendors, use of home refrigeration, and cash management strategies without credit. - Customers comment on the social atmosphere and variety of products available, seeing it as an alternative to supermarkets. - Younger vendors are being brought into the family businesses from a young age.

1. Gandamunda Haat
For final submission for course : Rural & Inclusive Marketing

2. India’s Rural
Markets –
Fortune At The
Bottom Of The
Pyramid. Both for
buyers and sellers.
Gandamunda
Haat: Not just
rural, not yet
urban

3. Set up by Bhubaneswar
Municipal Corporation in
2006.
Situated in Southern fringes
of the city
176 vending stalls

4. Mr. Braja Kishore Pradhan,
45
Lives in Dumduma,
Bhubaneswar
Seller in Gandamunda Haat

5. There is a reason I stock
only Potatoes and
Onions. First of all, they
are not easily
perishable.
Secondly, suppliers
comparatively take
lesser commissions on
buying these.
Thirdly, more vegetables
mean more risk.
BCG
Matrix
Onions
Potato
Drumsticks
Sweet Potato

6. I only sell a very limited
amount and variety of
vegetables. Every time I
come to set shop, I have to
take money from others.
So, do you go to a bank?
No. I go to temple priests
and beggars. Bank people
only ask for documents

7. People do not have time
these days. They just want
to come, pay money, take
their stuff and go.
By packaging my Potatoes
like this, I have made their
lives easier.

8. Mohammad Sabir, 39
Lives in Gandamunda
Village
Tailor by training, trader
by choice

9. BCG
Matrix
Papaya,
Pumpkin
Tomato,
Potato
Drumsticks
Banana,
Kunduri
Green and leafy
vegetables that I get
from villages outside
Bhubaneswar have been
very profitable for me.
I feel that these days
customers has lost
appetite for vegetables
like Kunduri and
Kankada. Not just me,
overall in the haat their
demand is low.

10. 3-4 of us who buy from
Kuberpur load our stocks
together in a single auto.
That is how everyone wins
and saves transportation
costs.
And what about the
leftover stock?
My wife lets me use the
fridge. I sell it at
Sunderpada the next day.

11. People think that some of
us cheat and that we sell
sub-standard products.
Sir, let me assure you that
we are not bad people.
We raise our kids and
families in a respectable
society.
We also care for the city and use lo-power
bulbs in the haat.
It costs more, but we still use it.

12. Since the concept of credit is practically
non-existent in the haat, sellers have
devised and practise unique mechanisms
to safely manage cash they collect and
give out as change

13. Mr Kali Shankar Chand, 68
Lives in Jagmohan Nagar
Retired Public Servant,
Now a full-time Home
Manager
Has been going to
Gandamunda Haat since
2009.

14. Previously, there were only a countable number of stalls that
sold regular vegetables. But these days, you will find everything
from oil, spice and clothing in the haat. There’s a jeweller now,
and he does good business.

15. Despite the fact that there is a new Reliance Fresh
in the neighbourhood, I don’t think most
customers I know will abandon the haat.
Every time, I come to the haat, there is a sense of
social bonding with people I stumble upon,
This haat is no less than a Reliance Fresh. Expect
that it doesn’t have a roof or air-conditioning.

16. Mrs Sharmistha Hota, 50
Lives in Green Park
Housewife
Has been going to
Gandamunda Haat since it
started in 2006.

17. Being a seasoned shopper in the
haat ever since it’s inception,
Mrs Hota feels that the quality of
the products have gone down
Onions, Potatoes
and Tubers
20%
Green Vegetables
40%
Seasonal Vegetables
15%
Fruits
10%
Seafood
15%
How Mrs Hota spends INR 500 in the Haat

18. “Keshab is an auto driver by
the day and the society’s
watchman by the night.
When Keshab’s wife goes to
the haat, she doesn’t go
alone. Other neighbours of
hers who stay in the servant
quarters go together in a
group.
During the festival season,
they also buy clothes and
dresses from the clothing
merchant in the haat.”

19. When it comes to buying groceries like oil,
flour, spices and toiletries; they get the
benefit of buying smaller SKUs of each
product and since Keshab’s wife and her
friends buy in large quantities, the
shopkeeper also gives them a discount
outright.

20. In addition to the available items, the rice dealer, the fish trader also have very high
demand for their products.
So does the mushroom seller. It is also interesting to note that outside the haat, there is a
van that sells incense sticks, gram flour and fryums made by a SHG.

21. Q. Do your parents
know that you are
here?
“They sent us. Me and my Brother
come here everyday after School.
We KNOW we need to learn this business.”
- Kalia, 6th Grader and Seller at Gandamunda

22. Q. How is the supply chain being impacted by the
government?
“The way the input cost for farmers is rising against the unremunerated prices
of crops, I am sure farmers’ income will shrink to half of what they are earning
today, what to talk of doubling the income”
- Kumuti Sahu, 37, vendor at Gandamunda on Union Budget 2016

23. Q. Lastly, what do you think about the competition in
the farming sector and e-commerce?
“It is only 1 per cent of farming community like progressive growers who will take benefit
of online marketing. What about small and marginal farmers who usually become the
victims of low prices and vagaries of weather conditions?”
- Rama Behura, vegetable farmer from Pipili and seller at Gandamunda Haat

24. All Photographs taken on location.
The format of this document has been inspired by Intellectual Observers, Visual Research
Enquiries 1.0 – Mandar Rane
This document is best viewed on Adobe Reader.
BIPASHA GHOSH / UR15014
NANDINI RAJ / UR15024
SAMPAD ACHARYA / UR15037
SATISH CHANDRA TIYU / UR15040
SHASHANK GUWALANI / UR15041
SWATI MOHANTY / UR15045