SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT ON STUDY OF MARKETING AND PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY OF AIRTEL LTD.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements For the award of the Degree of

Master of Business Administration

(2011-13)

(MahamayaTechnicalUniversity, Noida) By Vikrant Chaudhary Roll No. 1109470115 MBA 2nd Year (GIMT, Greater Noida) Project Undertaken at Bharti Airtel Ltd. Report Submitted to: Mr. Anil Sharma (GM-Marketing)

GALGOTIAS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 1, Knowledge Park, Phase II Greater Noida

To Whom So Ever It May Concern

This is to certify that has prepared a summer training based project report on the title STUDY OF PROMOTIONAL AND MARKETING

STRATEGY OF AIRTEL LTD. for the partial fulfillment of Post Graduate Diploma In Marketing Management approved from Mahamaya University Noida. To the best of our knowledge the matter presented in project report is satisfactory and we wish her success in her future endeavor.

(Head of the Department)

(Project Supervisor)

DECLARATION

I, hereby declare that the research work presented in the summer training based project report entitled, STUDY OF PROMOTIONAL AND MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL LTD. for the partial fulfillment for the award of MBA from Mahamaya University is based on my original research work. The project report embodies the result of original work and studies carried out by me and the content of the project do not from the basis for the award of any other degree to me or to anybody else.

PREFACE

The objective of any marketing activity is to sell a product. Forthis, one must have the right product at the right price, available at the right time and place, through the right promotion commonly understood as the 4 Ps of marketing mix. The fundamental point to be appreciated is that all these variables must simultaneously fall in place for the success of a product. Take a look around you at all the successful brands and ask the marketing managers the reason for success. They will invariably tell you that it is because the company has been able to get this mix right. If one were to examine these variables carefully one will realize that thee are indeed ways of communicating with the consumer. A product talks to the consumer through its features, packaging and the promise of fulfilling a need .Its pricing tells the consumer whether it is affordable, value for money or premium. Its placement also communicates the values associated with the product. A premium store versus a discount store communicate very different message to the consumer .The promotion of the product also obviously communicates some message to consumer. In effect therefore, marketing is all about communication, whether through the product and itspackaging, thepricing, the placement and the promotion. We would therefore like to use the term communication mix and highlight the importance of sales promotion in that context.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 Certificates Declaration Preface Company Profile Introduction of the Industry Objective of the Study Hypothesis Research Methodology Data Collection and Analysis Findings Suggestion Limitation Conclusion Bibliography Annexure 02 03 04 06 44 62 63 64 67 87 89 90 91 92 93

COMPANY PROFILE BHARTI AIRTEL LTD

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. under a MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and has launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. Airtel comes from Bharti Airtel Limited; Bharti Airtel is one of the leading alternative providers of telecommunications services in India and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBUs) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel comes from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asias leading integrated telecom services providers with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has pioneered several innovations in the telecom sector.

The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, 6

Enterprise andDigital TV. The mobile business offers services in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos.

Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven to seize the day with an ambition to become the most globally admired telecom service. Airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle to achievement and continues to lead. As India's leading telecommunications company Airtel brand has played the role as a major catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence.

COMPANY PROFILE
Date of Establishment 1995 Revenue6716.88 ( USD in Millions ) Market Cap 1062548.9208608 ( Rs. in Millions ) Corporate Address- Aravali Crescent ,1 Nelson Mandela Road,Vasant Kunj Phase 2 New Delhi-110070, Delhi Chairperson - Sunil Bharti Mittal MD - Sunil Bharti Mittal Directors - Ajay Lal, Akhil Gupta, Arun Bharat Ram, Bashir Currimjee, Chua Sock Koong, Craig Ehrlich, Deven Khanna, Lim Chuan Poh, Manoj Kohli, Mauro Sentinelli, N Kumar, Nikesh Arora, Paul O'sullivan, Pulak Chandan Prasad, Quah Kung Yang, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Sarvjit Singh Dhillon, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tan Yong Choo, Vijaya Sampath

Bharti Airtel, incorporated on July 7, 1995 is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti Airtel is Asias leading integrated telecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Bharti Airtel has been at the forefront of the telecom revolution and has transformed the sect

Company Secretary- Vijaya Sampath Bankers Auditors- SR Batliboi & Associates

Business Divisions-

The enterprise services group includes units for both long-distance carriers and for corporate clients. Bharti Airtel has nearly 29 million total customers -- approximately more than 27 million GSM mobile and 1.6 million fixed-line customers. The company was founded as Bharti Tele-Ventures in 1995 and changed its name in early 2006 to Bharti Airtel Limited. It is a unit of Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises) Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman and Group Managing Director) This highly innovative company created telecom history when it farmed out its network management to experts Nokia and Ericsson, and set a trend in the global cellular industry. Last year, Vodafone gave the company a vote of confidence by acquiring 10% mostly from early Bharti investor Warburg Pincus. This year, Bharti will offer its second overseas services after the Seychelles. It acquired a license for tax haven Jersey, in the Channel Islands, and is looking for more. It also plans to spend $2 billion this year to double the size of its network and cover 50% of India's population, up from 40% currently. )

Bharti Airtel offers GSM mobile services in all the 23-telecom circles of India and is the largest mobile service provider in the country, based on the number of customers.

The group offers high speed broadband internet with a best in class network. With Landline services in 94 cities we help you stay in touch with your friends & family and the world. Get world class entertainment with Indias best direct to home (DTH) service digital TV in more than 150 cities.

Enterprise Services provides a broad portfolio of services to large Enterprise and Carrier customers. This division comprises of the Carrier and Corporate business unit. Enterprise Services is regarded as the trusted communications partner to India's leading organizations, helping them to meet the challenges of growth.

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Discover the magical experience of digital entertainment with Airtel. From DVD quality picture and sound, the best and widest variety of channels and programmes to the best ondemand content on Airtel Live, your TV viewing experience change forever with digital TV from Airtel!

VISION OF BHARTI AIRTEL By 2012 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India: Loved by more customers Targeted by top talent 11

Benchmarked by more businesses

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated on July 7, 1995 as a companywithlimited liability under the Companies Act, for promoting telecommunications services. Bharti TeleVentures received certificate for commencement of business on January 18, 1996. The Company was initially formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Telecom Limited. The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995 is as follows:

Calendar year & Events

1995
Bharti Cellular launched cellular services'AirTel'in Delhi

1996

STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by Telecom Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in BhartiTele-Ventures

Bharti Telenet launched cellular services in Himachal Pradesh

12

1997

British Telecom acquired a 21.05% equity interest in Bharti Cellular Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in Madhya Pradesh circle

Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT, for providing VSAT services

1998

Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT Internet for providing Internet services

First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the Madhya Pradesh circle on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet thereby ending fixed-line services monopoly of DoT (now BSNL)

1999

Warburg Pincus (through its investment company Brentwood Investment Holdings Limited) acquired a 19.05% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures (by acquiring a 63.45% equity interest in SC Cellular Holdings) acquired an effective 32.36% equity interest in Bharti Mobile

13

(formerly JT Mobiles), the cellular services provider in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles New York Life Insurance Fund, or NYLIF, acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular

2000

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an effective equity interest of 40.5% in Bharti Mobinet (formerly Sky cell Communications), the cellular services provider in Chennai

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 30.2% equity interest of Telecom Italia in Bharti Telenet and 18.8% from Bharti Telecom thereby making Bharti Telenet a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Tele Ventures

SingTel (through its investment company Pastel Limited) acquired STET's 15.3% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional effective 41.64% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (by acquiring the remaining 36.55% equity interest in SC Cellular) resulting in Bharti Tele-Ventures holding an effective 74% equity interest in Bharti Mobile.

2001

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired NYLIF's 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular Bharti Telesonic entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aqua net, with SingTel for establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai 14

Bharti Tele-Ventures issued additional equity for approximately US$ 481.30 million to SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF group, IFC, NYLIF, and See jay Cellular and Bharti Telecom

Bharti Cellular acquired a 100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel (formerly Spice Cell ), the cellular services provider in Kolkata

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired 85% and 15% in Bharti Telespatial from Bharti Telecom and Intel, respectively

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 44% equity interest in Bharti Cellular from British Telecom, thereby making Bharti Cellular its 100% subsidiary

Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional 49% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet from Millicom International and BellSouth International, thereby owning 89.5% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet, which was further increased to 95.3% following an issuance of additional equity shares by way of rights issue

Punjab license restored to Bharti Mobile by the DoT and migration to NTP 1999 accepted

Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight new circles following the fourth operator cellular license bidding process

Bharti Telenet entered into license agreements to provide fixed-line services in the Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles

Bharti Telesonic entered into a license agreement with the DoT to provide national long distance services across India

Bharti Aqua net, Bharti Telesonic and Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements with the DoT to provide ISP services in India

Bharti Telesonic launched national long distance services under the brand name of India One 15

Bharti Telenet launched fixed line services in Haryana under the brand name of TouchTel.

2002

Comes out with issue of 18.53 crore equity shares through book building route with a floor price of Rs 45 per share, received bid for 18.55 crore shares. Through the issue, it becomes the first company in India to come out with 100% book building issue

Issue price fixed at Rs 45 per share, floor price fixed by the company. Raises Rs 834 crore

Shares listed on BSE, NSE and DSE, opens at 11% premium to its issue price of Rs 45

Enters into a 5-year agreement with Escotel and ETL of the Escorts group to contract leased line connectivity for its cellular operations

Mr. Ravi Akhoury ceases to be Director of Bharti Tele DoT grants ILD Telephony License to Bharti Telesonic, subsidiary of the company

Signs MoU with Telia AB to buy out their 26% stake in Bharti Mobile Ties up with SSC (Secondary School Certification) Board, Hyderabad, where Bharti will announce SSC results to its customers on their mobile phones

ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs Bharti forays into Mumbai with offers

16

Alpine International Ltd. and ELM International Ltd. acquire shares of Bharti Tele-Ventures

Sunil Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director of the company, bags Businessman of the year award by Business India

2003

Airtel breaks interconnectivity with Tata Teleservices in Andhra Pradesh Circle Company accorded its approval for amalgamation of its subsidiary companies viz: Bharti Telenet Ltd, Bharti Telesonic Ltd, Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd and Bharti Comtel Ltd through scheme of Amalgamation. The merged entity would be renamed as Bharti Infotel Ltd

Air Tel launches Local direct dialing facility in Chennai circle Mobilizes 5 m long term foreign currency borrowings for expansion of cellular operations

Bharti Cellular unveils Care Touch service Bharti Group's cellular brand Airtel has unveiled free multimedia messaging services (MMS) for its customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) for its corporate subscribers

Launches its `India One Meet press' audio-conferencing service Punjab, Haryana get free incoming calls from Airtel AirTel provides SMS facilities to hearing impaired in Chennai Goa, Maharashtra gets 'voice portal' services by Bharti Cellular-Launches free additional connection to its new subscribers in New Delhi

17

Mr. Sin Hang Boon and Mr. Wong Hung Khim have resigned from the Board of Directors of Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd with effect from February 27, 2003.

Airtel provides SMS cricket updates Bharti Mobinet Ltd, the Bharti group company that provides the AirTel mobile service in Chennai, today launched its GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network and an MMS (multimedia messaging) on the GPRS platform

AirTel unveils new ring tones for Karnataka cellular market AirTel Subscribers exceed 3 million mark AirTel unveils RAD system Mr. P M Sinha resigns from the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from March 31, 2003.

Bharti TeleVentures announces the completion of merger with Bharti Mobitel Bharti Mobitel Ltd. merged with Bharti Cellular Ltd. AirTel reintroduces 'Mobile 2 Mobile' offer for Karnataka customers

AirTel, Touchtel jointly offer freeTouchtel land line for post-paid Airtel connection

AirTel rolls out voice mail service for pre-paid customers AirTel unveils new scheme for pre-paid customers giving away free talk time worth Rs 10crore

Airtel surpasses 4 lakh subscriber base in Karnataka Bharti announces new tariff plan AirTel 012 Offers 0-1-2, a new cellular package for the customers, which means zero charges on incoming calls, Re 1 on mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls, Rs 2 on mobile-tomobile STD calls

Rolls out Airtel messenger service 18

AirTel offers bundled handset, connection package for Rs 5715 Airtel slashes SMS rates to 60 paisa; excludes Delhi and Mumbai Bharti cellular, wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures, increases its stake to 100% in Bharti Mobile

Iinks distribution pact with Hathaway Cable. With this alliance, Bharti is said to be the first telecom firm to step into television distribution services

Six cell operators move over from Bharti to VSNL Airtel augments cellular coverage in TN by including Arcot & Walajapet in its network

Airtel ties up with Coke in Chennai to sell its Magic prepaid cards AirTel embarks on network expansion in Hyderabad Airtel unveils India One Long Distance Calling Card AirTel introduces unified tariff package in TN, Chennai Airtel becomes front runner in Karnataka's mobile services market Bharti Tele launches 'Always on' service to its subscribers SBI, AirTel announce EMI offer at Rs 299 Bharti and MTV join hands to launch new SIM card AirTel unveils new post-paid scheme at zero rental AirTel launches `Happy Plan' in AP Airtel emerges as the highest selling pre-paid card Airtel join hands with Alcatel & Videocon to launch new scheme AirTel service provider touches 5 lakh customers in Punjab Airtel offers 5 new services for its customers in Mumbai Bharti launches first dual band network in Delhi Gets 14th place among top 25 Cos in India 19

Bharti Mobile crosses 4 lakh mobile subscribers in AP Airtel holds top position in terms of dealer penetration Prof. V S Raju has been inducted on the Board of Directors of the Company. Touchtel launches SMS service in fixed line phones in Karnal, Panipat AitTel unveils special offers in Kerala AirTel launches InnoWest for the western region Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into an agreement with Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd

Airtel slashes out going sms price to 30ps AirTel on December 16, 2003 announced the launch of expense tracker service, which provides customers the option of tracking their day-to-day expenses on a daily or monthly basis. To avail of this service, the customer should register himself by sending EXP REG your mail ID{gt} to 3020. This service will allow a user to track expenses, while on the move by sending an SMS. Each SMS sent to 3020 would cost Rs 3.

AirTel introduces MTV Club Card in Chennai

2004
Bharti unveils new card for Mecca pilgrims AirTel enrolls 50,000 customers in its mobile service in 60 days Launches WAP enabled portal Service in Kerala Bharti Cellular's AirTel has extended its mobile connectivity to Karaikkal, Nagur, Mannargudi and Kovilpalayam in Tamil Nadu circle. Airtel customer base touches new high of 5 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh

20

Mobile service provider AirTel is launching its first ever MMS (Multi Media service) downloads in Tamil. The launch of this service has been timed to coincide with Pongal.

AirTel tie up with MAA TV Airtel launches Rs 50 pre-paids recharge AirTel launched a family pack for its post-paid customers in Chennai on January 29. According to a press release, the family pack may have a maximum of 10 members spread across the country. The combined basic plan fixed charges/rental of all family members in the pack will have to be equal to Rs 450 but less than Rs 1000 for the family 450 pack and above Rs 1000 for the family 1000 pack. The offerings under family pack 450 include 15 free mobile to mobile STD minutes within the family, 50 free local calling minutes to each family member, calls within the family in same circle at 50 paisa per minute, 25 free local SMS and one subscription alert service free for 3 months.

Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into a three year service agreement with Ericsson Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) has signed and received unified access service license to provide GSM services in five circles including Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal & Andaman Nicobar, Orissa, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir. The license has been granted to Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL), the cellular arm and subsidiary of BTVL.

Airtel announces the signing of the first-ever bilateral roaming agreement between an Indian mobile service provider and its counterpart in Pakistan. This facility will be available to pre-paid as well as post-paid customers. AirTel's roaming agreement is with Mobil ink, the only GSM cellular service provider in Pakistan

21

Acquires switching systems from Tekelec that will give a technological edge to the company

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd signed an information technology outsourcing deal with InfoTech major IBM, estimated to be in the range of 0-750 million for a ten-year period.

Jayant Khosla, new chief executive officer, Mumbai Signs MoU to join the South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 4 (SEAME-WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators.

Bharti Tele-Ventures has struck a deal with Shyam Telecom to buy out the latter's 67.5 per cent stake in cellular services company AIRTEL for Rs 430 crore.

Bharti Tele garners 0 m via FCCBs Samsung India Electronics Limited has tied up with cellular operator Bharti for bundling its mobile handsets with a connection.

The Bharti group finalized an Rs 500-crore deal to share its national longdistance (STD) network with VSNL in a first-of-its-kind accord between two top telecom service providers in a bid to optimize capacities in the NLD segment.

Internet gateway and services provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has signed a Right to Use (RoU) agreement to deploy mobile telephony major, Bharti Tele-Ventures' existing National Long Distance (NLD) backbone.

Airtel offers talk time transfer service Airtel has announced money-back guarantee offer in case of call drop or poor network experience for its subscribers

Bharti launches 2-in-1 card Airtel launched two-way international roaming and GPRS for prepaid customers in the Maharashtra and Goa circles 22

India's leading cellular company Bharti Tele-Ventures has bagged the Asian Mobile News operator of the year award in India and the subcontinent

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has awarded a million equipment contract to Swedish telecoms company Ericsson

Bharti Televentures announced formation of a new strategic business unit to offer various telecom and IT services through a single contact

Bharti Televentures unveiled a mobile portal featuring sports, entertainment and news among others

Airtel ties up with Micro Tech to set up 'Mcops' vehicle security system Bharti Tele-Venture on July 19 launched ring back tone service which is a personalized mobile music service where the caller hears songs and other sound clips instead of the traditional switchboard ring-ring tone

Airtel, a private telecom services provider, has commissioned its first 24x7 customer service centre in Andhra Pradesh

Airtel unveils Rs 199 pre paid card AirTel join hands with NMIMS to offer executive MBA programme AirTel introduces new scheme for hearing impaired in Maharashtra & Goa AirTel inks pact with JP Mobile AirTel unveils first virtual calling cards in India BTVL rolls out EDGE services in Bangalore Airtel rolls out Full Talk time Advantage card Airtel rolls out Wi-Fi services in Mumbai BTVL launches new 'Airtel Broadband Friendly Offer' Airtel launches GPRS services for pre-paid customers Airtel partners with ITPO to set up Wi-Fi network in Delhi 23

Airtel launches EDGE services and a new pre-paid plan for Chennai Airtel introduces LAS in Karnataka

2005

Airtel launches video services for its GPRS customers on February 22, 2005 Airtel unveils new TV ad featuring Sachin, Sharukh Bharti Tele-Ventures launches telecom network in Andaman & Nicobar BTVL unveil fixed line, broadband services Bharti inks 5-m deal with Nokia for rural network expansion Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank & VISA have joined hands to launch mChq - a revolutionary new service - a credit card on the mobile phone

Bharti Tele Ventures - Airtel introduces BlackBerry Connect in India Bharti Tele Ventures announces agreement with Vodafone Airtel unveils 'free flight' offer Airtel unveils starter pack Bharti Tele-Ventures launches under sea cable system

2006
Airtel unveils Re 1 STD plans Airtel launches NetXpert. Airtel launches Post2Pre recharging service on April 04,2006. Airtel sets up customer centre

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Mobile service provider Airtel today announced the launch of `Save My Phone Contact' service for its pre-paid and post-paid customers in Delhi

Bharti Tele Ventures bags 'Wireless Service Provider of the Year' & 'Competitive Service Provider of the Year' awards

Sunil Mittal bags CEO of the Year award Cellebrum join hands with Airtel Airtel Mega unveiled in Coimbatore Airtel joins hand with Microsoft Bharti Airtel Ltd has informed that Microsoft and the Company announced a strategic partnership that will offer a range of software and services for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Nov 8, announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Adani Group for establishing an end-to-end modern telecommunication network infrastructure for the latter's

Multi-sector special economic zone (SEZ), located near Mundra Port in Kutch district of Gujarat.

2007
Bharti Airtel, telecom major, has come out with a slew of initiatives including buying out SingTel's 50 per cent stake in joint venture under sea cable company Network i2i for 0 million. Bharti Airtel on Feb 11, has been awarded QCI-DL Shah National Award on Economics of Quality. Bharti Airtel Ltd has announced the following changes in the operational leadership structure and roles in the Company effective April 01, 2007. 25

Bharti Airtel Ltd on April 01, 2007, has announced the reduction in International Long Distance Tariffs (ISD) for all its mobile customers in India.

Airtel signs agreement with HTC for touch screen mobile.

2008

Nokia Siemens Networks on Jan 3 declared that it has been awarded a multi million euro contract from Bharti Airtel Ltd for deployment of a single interactive voice response (IVR) platform across 23 circles. The three-year turnkey contract comprises designing, planning, systems integration and optimization services to raise overall customer experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to deliver services such as voice SMS, televoting, call management services, caller ring back tone and voice portal on a faster time-to-market basis and, therefore, reduce OPEX costs.

Bharti Airtel Ltd on February 13, 2008 has announced that it has achieved the 60 million customer mark. This landmark has catapulted Bharti Airtel into the club of top mobile operators in the world in terms of subscriber base. The 60 million customer base covers mobile as well as fixed line and broadband customers.

Bharti Airtel tied up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in the country.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has forged a technology alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd to launch its Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. Infosys, through its digital convergence platform, will offer a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications for Airtel's DTH services.

26

2009

Bharti Airtel HAS signed a five-year managed services deal valued at 0 million with Alcatel Lucent for its fixed-line and broadband operations.

Bharti Airtel launched the 'Airtel Advantage' initiative. The initiative is aimed at offering the added advantage to Airtel customers to be in touch with each other at an affordable rate of 50 paisa per minute, be it a national long distance call (STD) or local call.

In order to create products and services for the small, medium and large enterprises, Bharti Airtel and Cisco announced a strategic business alliance. The alliance would combine the strengths of Airtel's network service and Cisco' Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.

Bharti Airtel - Airtel and mChek announce milestone of One Million users; introduce a broad range of new mCommerce services.

2012
Bharti Airtel submitted its bid for 3G spectrum, the auction for which starts from April 9th.

27

v commercials & airtel signature tune To download - right click on the icons and choose "save target as"

airtel signature tune download

airtel internet on 3G airtel internet on 3G TVC 3 TVC 2

airtel internet on 3G airtel BlackBerry TVC 1 Messenger

start or stop any service, anytime

airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven to seize the day with an ambition to become the most admired telecom service provider globally. airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle of achievement and continues to lead.

As India's leading telecommunications company, airtel brand has played the role of a major catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence.

Today we touch people's lives with our Mobile services, Telemedia services, to connecting India's leading 1000+ corporates. We also connect Indians living in USA, UK 28

and Canada with our callhome service.

CORPOATE GOVERNANCE

Integrity and Ethics The partners will conduct all its dealings in a very ethical manner and with the
highest business standards.

All partners with a business relationship with Bharti Airtel shall comply with the
highest level of integrity and ethical practices.

The partners will provide all possible assistance to Bharti Airtel in order to
investigate any possible instances of unethical behavior or business conduct violations by its employee. Partner will disclose forthwith any breach of these provisions that comes to their knowledge to allow for timely action in their prevention and detection.

Partners will adopt appropriate processes to prevent offering any illegal

gratification in the form of bribes or kickbacks either in cash or in kind in the course of all dealings with us. Any instances of such violations will be viewed in a serious manner and Bharti Airtel reserves the right to take all appropriate actions or remedies as may be required under the circumstances.

All partners are required to confirm their compliance to ethical dealings on an

annual basis by signing a certificate to this effect as per Bharti Airtel's standard annual certificate.

29

 Any ethical or integrity issues observed or encountered while dealing with Bharti
Airtel shall be bought to the notice of Bharti Airtels senior management or the Head of Internal Audit immediately.

Environment, health and safety Suppliers dealing with Bharti Airtel shall comply and adhere to all laws, regulations and guidelines on environment, health and safety. Suppliers will ensure that all new service offerings as well as new product designs are in compliance with the relevant environmental regulation and guidelines, at the time of implementation at Bharti Airtel. Protection of Intellectual Property The Partner: Shall comply with the guidelines for use of the trademarks and trade names notified by the Company (including but not limited to 'Bharti' and 'Airtel') and shall not use the Company trademarks and trade names without the prior written consent of the Company. Shall, under no circumstances, advertise or use Bharti Airtel's name to market its own product or associate its company with Bharti Airtel. If a partner spots any counterfeit or infringing Company product/service, the partner shall immediately notify Bharti Airtel. Shall not reproduce, in whole or in substantial part, any copyrighted work in hard copies, prints, video or electronic copies in violation of the copyright laws including the Bharti Airtel's Partner Manual. Bharti Airtel's intellectual property also resides in trade secrets or know-haws. Trade secrets are technical, commercial or other information unknown to the 30

public, which can bring economic benefits to its owner. Documents that contain trade secrets and available to the Partner shall be safeguarded and not shared by the Partner with any third party without prior written consent of Bharti Airtel. Domestic and international trade controls Suppliers shall understand and follow applicable domestic and international trade control and customs laws and regulations, including, but not limited to those relating to licensing, shipping and import documentation and reporting and record retention requirements.

Conflict of Interest Suppliers will ensure they do not engage in any personal dealings with Bharti employees, especially those that they interact with on Bharti business matters.

PARTNER POLICY
Airtel would strive to conduct its business in a manner that reflects its vision and brand essence. As the sourcing base expands, Airtel will only do business with partners who are committed to a long term relationship focusing on mutual growth and trust. All Partners are responsible for making sure that Airtel's vision and brand essence is adhered to when subcontracting any portion of their obligations. Partners are individually responsible for ensuring that their employees understand Airtel's vision and brand essence.

Regulatory Compliance

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All Partners of Airtel must operate within the bounds of all applicable laws. They must also adhere to the governing standards of the country and international countries in which they conduct business. If at anytime a Partner ceases to meet any statutory and/or other requirement of the country in which they are doing business, Airtel reserves the right to immediately cancel all its outstanding orders with that Partner as well as terminate its agreement with the Partner.

Corporate Citizenship

Airtel believes in Corporate Citizenship. Airtel is committed to protecting the environment wherever it does business. As a responsible corporate citizen we will favor those Partners who share our commitment to the community and the environment, as well as those who conform to all local requirements regarding environmental codes and guidelines.

Corporate Citizenship

All potential partners are required to undergo the registration process to be considered for business with Airtel. On successful completion, the partner would be added to Airtel's Supplier Base and a registration code would be provided. Only registered partners would be considered for new business opportunities. The registration code would be rendered inactive for partners not meeting the requirements of the registration process. Once deactivated, partners would be required to go through the registration process again.

Number of Partners and Business Share

All partners working with Airtel would have a unique partner code and would be applicable for all their business units globally. Airtel would have a maximum of 6 to 8

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partners registered for any product or service. RFP would be released to registered partners only.

Airtel at any point of time would release a contract to a maximum of 3 partners for a product or service with a business share split of 60%, 30% and 10%. Incase 2 partners are contracted; the business share split would be 67% and 33%. Business share would be primarily based on partner performance score card. Airtel would provide higher business share for partners who help it to improve its technology, competitiveness and customer delight. In case where all criteria are similar the decision would be based on the partner's dependence on Airtel. Any deviation would be approved at a level higher as per DOA. Single partner for a product or service would be approved through a specific DOA.

Reciprocity

Airtel's goal is to buy products and services which have the best prices, quality, delivery, and technology. Airtel encourages partners to use its products for their telecom requirements and would prefer partners endorsing Bharti Airtel products where all criteria requirements are being met.

Code of Ethics

Airtel expects the highest standards of integrity and conduct from its partners. No gifts (other than advertising matter of modest values such as calendars and diaries), or favors should be offered to an employee of Airtel or to friends or family of employees. Partners are expected to familiarize themselves with the Airtel Code of Conduct which is available in the Partner Manual or on request, in order to avoid any ambiguity in this regard.

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Contracting

Supply Chain is solely responsible for selecting partners, obtaining quotations and awarding purchase orders/contracts for products, equipment, software and/or services. Direct discussions between the requesting organization and partner shall be coordinated by the Supply Chain Department. Airtel will issue a purchase order / contract for all products and/or services to all partners. Work should not begin until a formal purchase order/contract is received. Partner performing a service or supplying products without the proper authorization would do so at its own cost and risk.

Confidentiality

Airtel will treat information received from Partners in a responsible fashion, and expects Partners to treat information received from Airtel in the same manner. Partners should not disclose Bharti Airtel as a customer, documentation received from Bharti Airtel or release information about relationships with Bharti Airtel without written consent (should such disclosures be legally required, Bharti Airtel will not unreasonably withhold that permission, which must be obtained in advance and in writing).

Partner Satisfaction

Airtel would conduct an annual partner satisfaction survey and use it as an important tool to continuously improve and further develop its internal and external processes with partners. In order to obtain an unbiased feedback, the survey would be conducted by an independent external agency.

Partner Awards

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Airtel recognizes consistent performance of its partners annually by presenting performance awards. The awards would be primarily based on the partner performance score card. Awards would be announced and presented during the partners meets. Consistent & good performers would also be entitled to better share of business and other benefits, as would be announced from time to time by Bharti Airtel.

Partner Disengagement

Airtel reserves the right to cancel all orders and/or contracts with a partner in cases where there is an unethical practice used, code of conduct violation, partner bankruptcy or insolvency, ownership transfer and/or any other reason deemed fit for disengagement. Airtel would follow a structured approach for disengagement to ensure the smooth transitioning where separation becomes inevitable.

Partner Grievance

Airtel's Partner grievance process ensures a Partner's ability to access Airtel's corporate assurance group and leadership to address concerns, grievances, or complaints relating to the contracting award process for products or services, or in general.

A Partner who believes that a contract award decision was not determined appropriately must file a written grievance using the Partner Grievance form stating facts and concerns. The completed form must be sent via e-mail to central.scm@airtel.in

A Partner who has a general concern, grievance & complaint must file a written grievance using the Partner Grievance form stating facts and concerns. Complete form must be sent to the supplier Ombudsperson at Airtel via e-mail Ombudsperson@airtel.in 35

COMPETITORS PROFILE Vodafone Essar-

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 16 telecom circles in India . Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major metros. Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 16 of the country's 23 license areas.

Growth of the company as Hutchison EssarIn 1992 Hutchison Whampoa and its Indian business partner established a company that in 1994 was awarded a license to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and launched commercial service as Hutchison Max in November 1995. Analjit Singh of Max still holds 12% in company. By the time of Hutchison Telecom's Initial Public Offering in 2004, Hutchison Whampoa had acquired interests in six mobile telecommunications operators providing service in 13of India's 23 license areas and following the completion of the acquisition of BPL that number increased to 16. In 2006, it announced the acquisition of a company that held license applications for the 36

seven

remaining

license

areas.

In a country growing as fast as India, a strategic and well managed business plan is critical to success. Initially, the company grew its business in the largest wireless markets in India - in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In these densely populated urban areas it was able to establish a robust network, well known brand and large distribution network -all vital to long-term success in India. Then it also targeted business users and high-end post-paid customers which helped Hutchison Essar to consistently generate a higher Average Revenue per User ("ARPU") than its competitors. By adopting this focused growth plan, it was able to establish leading positions in India's largest markets providing the resources to expand its footprint nationwide.

IDEA CELLULAR-

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. It initially started in 1995 as a join venture between the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by merging Tata Cellular and Birla AT&T Communications. Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004 gave Idea a truly pan-India presence covering Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Haryana, Kerala, UP and Delhi (inclusive of NCR).

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The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas. Presently, operations exist in 11 Service Areas covering Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, UPWest, Himachal Pradesh, UP-East, UP and Kerala. With a customer base of over 23 million, IDEA Cellular's footprint currently covers approximately 60% of India's telecom population. A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans; IDEA Cellular has the distinction of offering the most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid offerings, for the first time in India in an increasingly segmented market Customer Service and Innovation are the drivers of this Cellular Brand. A brand known for their many firsts, Idea is only operator to launch GPRS and EDGE in the country. Idea has received international recognition for its path-breaking innovations when it won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years. IDEA Cellular is part of the Aditya Birla Group, a US$ 24 billion corporation with a market cap of US$ 31.5 billion and in the league of Fortune 500. Anchored by an extraordinary force of over 100,000 employees belonging to 25 different nationalities, over 50% of its revenues flow from its overseas operations. With ambitious future plans, the company is poised for rapid growth across the whole country. The Brand Idea: It is almost impossible to disintegrate brand Idea from the corporate Idea. Brand values are the company values and vise versa. The Brand Vision: It goes without saying that the brand vision of idea mirrors the

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Companys vision. The brand mission statement is... To be the most customer-focused mobile service brand, continuously innovating to help liberate our customers from the shackles of time & space.

Reliance Communications-

Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm), along with Reliance Telecom and Flag Telecom, is part of Reliance Communications Ventures (RCoVL). According to National Stock Exchange data, Anil Ambani controls 66.75 per cent of the company, which accounts for more than 1.36 billion shares of the company. Reliance Infocomm is an Indian telecommunications company. It is the flagship company of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, comprising of power (Reliance Energy), financial services (Reliance Capital) and telecom initiatives of the Reliance ADA Group. Reliance Infocomm is currently managed by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani. It uses CDMA2000 1x technology.

Company Profile
On November 15th 1999, Reliance infocomm begins its project planning. The founder of RELIANCE INFOCOMM, Dhirubhai Ambani dream was Make a phone call cheaper than a postcard and you will usher in a revolutionary transformation in the lives of millions of Indians. In 2000, optic fiber laying process commences in Gujarat, Andhra

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Pradesh and Maharashtra. In 2001, first media convergence Node made Ready for Electronics at NCR. In 2002, first Base Transceiver Station (BTS) made Ready for Electronics. Then in same year company obtains International Long Distance License from Govt. of India. After that they establish 1st point of Interconnect in New Delhi and on December 27, Honorable Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurates RELIANCE INFOCOMM. Then year 2003 starts which was the most successful year for Reliance Communications.

Strategic Business UnitsThe business of Reliance Communications is organized into three strategic customer facing business units: Wireless, Global, and Broadband. In addition, one of the wholly owned subsidiaries of Reliance Communications is engaged in the marketing and distribution of wireless handsets. Their strategic business units are supported by our fully integrated, state-of-the-art network and operations platform and by the largest retail distribution and customer service facilities of any communications service provider in India.

Tata Teleservices-

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Company profileTata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is part of the Tata Group of Companies, an Indian Conglomerate. It runs the brand name Tata Indicom in India in various telecom circles of India. The company forms part of the Tata Group's presence in the Telecommunication Industry in India.

TTSL was incorporated in 1995 and was the first company to offer CDMA Mobile services in India, specifically in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Tata is the direct competitor with other operators in India. The company provides unified telecommunication solutions including mobile, fixed wireless, fixed line and broadband. Other competitors like Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Idea, MTNL, and BSNL providing GSM based mobile telephony. The company was first in India to provide free intra network calling within city limits. They launched a unique scheme providing lifetime rental free connectivity on its mobile and fixed wireless for a one-time charge.

The Tata Group's commitment to building a substantial presence in India's telecom industry has seen it play a leading role in the development of the country's communications infrastructure. The telecom services of the Group are offered under the brand name Tata Indicom, and cover all segments, from retail and enterprise to wholesale and international. The objective is to make Tata Indicom the preferred

telecommunications choice of customers across the country. The Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit (TIEBU) is the central, specialized enterprise sales and marketing unit for the Tata Group's telecom initiatives. The unit is the benchmark telecom player in the enterprise space and was formed with a view to providing customized, end-to-end voice and data solutions to customers across India. It delivers cost-effective, integrated solutions that are designed to fulfill the most complex communication needs. Tata Indicom offers you a range of products and services like Wireless Internet, Wireless USB Modem and Mobile Phones so you are always connected. Landline Phones Net Telephony Internet & Broadband It has partnered with Motorola, Ericsson, Lucent and ECI Telecom for the deployment of a reliable, technologically advanced network. The company, which heralded convergence technologies in the Indian 41

telecom sector, is today the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market with a total customer base of over 3.8 million.

BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD.

Company Overview

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited provides telecommunications services in India. Its services include wire line and cellular services, as well as other value added services, such as voice mail service, short message service (SMS), group messaging, national and international roaming, call forwarding, corporate virtual private network, call conferencing, friend and family talk, call waiting, and call holding services. The company also provides 3G; wireless in local loop (WLL) mobile telephone; Internet; Web-hosting; Web co-location; SMS and bulk SMS; and broadband services. In addition, it offers managed network services; multi protocol label switching based virtual private network (VPN) services; integrated services digital network (ISDN) services; data communication services; intelligent network services consisting of toll free phone service, universal access number, voice VPN, televoting, and virtual calling cards; and video, audio, and Web conferencing services. Further, the company provides fleet management solution comprising eTracK, an on-line tracking system to manage fleet, such as trucks, car carriers, trailers, tankers, containers, or vehicles carrying hazardous and specialty explosive chemicals; Inet services for use in various applications, including electronic 42

mail services, corporate communications, information retrieval, database services, remote job applications, credit card verifications, travel reservations, and Internet connectivity; telex/telegraph services; PABX/EPABX services; and DSPT services, as well as offers VSAT, voice over Internet protocol, and IN services. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited was founded in 2000 and is based in New Delhi, India.

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INTRODUCTION OF INDUSTRY TELECOM INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Indian telecom sector, like any other industrial sector in the country, has gone through many phases of growth and diversification. Starting from telegraphic and telephonic system in the 19th century, the field of telephonic communication has now expanded to make use of advanced technologies like GSM, CDMA, and WLL to great 3G technology in mobile phones. Day by day, both the public players and the private players are putting in their resources and efforts to improve the telecommunication technologies so as to give maximum to their customers. The Telecom industry of India is on the edge of becoming the second biggest telecom sector in the world with an overall compactness of telecommunications of up to 47.89%. In the year 2009, the industry attracted subscribers of over 562.21 million which was 3.5% greater than its previous year, as per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report. The Indian telecom industry registered annual revenues of over US$ 8.57 billion in 2009 triggered by the revival in incomes from landline and mobile services. By 2014, the industry is anticipated to surface as the highest element in the nation's GDP by contributing up to 15.5%. Currently, the telecom industry is on an expansion spree and is adding 9-11 million cellular phone subscribers per month. With this pace the sector is estimated to cover more than half of the nation's population by 2012.

2010 Budget Telecom Industry Expectations are re-introduction of tax exemptions in context of system rollouts in rural districts and to telecom infrastructure service providers, tax relief to businesses undergoing reformatting mentioned in 44

provisions under Section 80IA (12A) by the Finance Act, 2007, special additional duty (SAD) compensation, accessibility of Cenvat Credit in case of relocation of the business, tariffs of not up to 0.5-2% and explanation on tax reduction of entire spectrum charge. GSM Mobile Market Share In India

1. Bharti Airtel: 121.7 million (30.86%) 2. Vodafone Essar: 94.1 million (23.87%) 3. IDEA: 59.8 million (15.19%) 4. BSNL: 59.4 million (15.08%) 5. Aircel: 33.0 million (8.38%) 6. Reliance Telecom: 15.7 million (4.0%) 7. MTNL: 4.6 million (1.17%) 8. Loop Mobile: 2.7 million (0.69%) 9. Uninor: 2.5 million (0.64%) 10. STel: 0.5 million (0.13%) Total Users: 395.3 million

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46

INTRODUCTION TO SUBJECT MATTER

This project is made on the project title Marketing and Promotional Strategy of Airtel Ltd., in NCR Region The purpose of this project is to know about the use of mobiles and the need of sales promotional activities and to know what are the promotional activities company follow to increase the sale. Now a days mobile service has become a necessary service. In field of marketing many kind of survey are conducted by Airtel time to time for promotion awareness.

What is Sales Promotion?

Sales promotion describes promotional methods using special short-term techniques to persuade members of a target market to respond or undertake certain activity. As a reward, marketers offer something of value to those responding generally in the form of lower cost of ownership for a purchased product (e.g., lower purchase price, money back) or the inclusion of additional value-added material (e.g., something more for the same price).

Sales promotions are often confused with advertising. For instance, a television advertisement mentioning a contest awarding winners with a free trip to a Caribbean island may give the contest the appearance of advertising. While the delivery of the marketers message through television media is certainly labeled as advertising, what is contained in the message, namely the contest, is considered a sales promotion. The factors that distinguish between the two promotional approaches are:

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1. whether the promotion involves a short-term value proposition (e.g., the contest is only offered for a limited period of time), and

2. The customer must perform some activity in order to be eligible to receive the value proposition (e.g., customer must enter contest). The inclusion of a timing constraint and an activity requirement are hallmarks of sales promotion. Sales promotions are used by a wide range of organizations in both the consumer and business markets, though the frequency and spending levels are much greater for consumer products marketers. One estimate by the Promotion Marketing Association suggests that in the US alone spending on sales promotion exceeds that of advertising.

SALES PROMOTION TECHNIQUES OF COMPANY

Good Advertising. Effective Incentive Policy. Good services. Wide & Deep Distribution System. Decorating Retailers shop by display board, dealers board etc. Posters. Banners.

Types of Sales Promotion

Sales promotion can be classified based on the primary target audience to whom the promotion is directed. These include:

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Consumer Promotion Trade Promotion Sales force Promotion

Consumer Sales Promotion

Consumer sales promotions encompass a variety of short-term promotional techniques designed to induce customers to respond in some way. The most popular consumer sales promotions are directly associated with product purchasing. These promotions are intended to enhance the value of a product purchase by either reducing the overall cost of the product (i.e., get same product but for less money) or by adding more benefit to the regular purchase price (i.e., get more for the money).

While tying a promotion to an immediate purchase is a major use of consumer sales promotion, it is not the only one. As we noted above, promotion techniques can be used to achieve other objectives such as building brand loyalty or creating product awareness. Consequently, a marketers promotional toolbox contains a large variety of consumer.

There are several possible tools that can be used for consumer promotions. Some of the more important ones are:

Sampling Price-off Quality deals Banded offers In-product gift Out- product gift 49

Coupons Consumer contests

Trade Sales Promotions

As note in the Promotion Decisions Tutorial, certain promotions can help push a product through the channel by encouraging channel members to purchase and also promote the product to their customers. For instance, a trade promotion aimed at retailers may encourage retailers to instruct their employees to promote a marketers brand over competitors offerings. With thousands of products competing for limited shelf space, spending on trade promotion is nearly equal that spent on consumer promotions.

Many sales promotions aimed at building relationships with channel partners follow similar designs as those directed to consumers including promotional pricing, contests and free product. In addition to these, several other promotional approaches are specifically designed to appeal to trade partners.

Techniques used in trade promotion

On-consignment sales Dealer contests Dealer gifts Display contests Point of sale material Shop board painting Dealer discounts Trade fair participation 50

Dealer meets Cooperative advertising

Advantages and Disadvantages of sales Promotion

Sales Promotion techniques yield results that many other marketing communication elements cannot achieve .For example it can turn around a sales trend in the short run ,help introduce a new product by encouraging consumer and retail acceptance ,reinforce message driven by other communication mix element ,etc.Some of the benefits of sale promotion : Sales promotion produces result by stimulating people to act to try, to buy, to buy more, or to buy more often. It can lead to trial, generate excitement, encourage rein peat purchase, attract switchers, etc. It is especially helpful in situations where there is extreme pressure to increase sales eg.at the end of the year when there are shortfalls in budgeted sales. It produces immediate results. While advertising or public relation act as an investment producing sales in the long run, sales promotion works during a definite span of time. Most of the sales come during the sale promotions period itself. Very often, if the promotion is successful, one can get results within hours, days or weeks. It can prevent competitor entry or offset competitor promotions and thus help maintain the brands current market share. Sales promotion techniques directed at channel members or sales force can gain channel support and involvement and help push the product. It helps in getting shelf space and merchandising benefits at the retail level, clearing off excess inventory, motivating sales people to find new contacts etc.

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Sales promotion is relatively easy to design and implement. It is possible to calculate costs effect on sales and sometimes even on competitor sales.

DISADVANTAGES OF SALES PROMOTION

Most sales promotion is used for short-term results. Any excessive use can shift the focus on short-term marketing planning that acts only at the behavioral level.

Increasing sales promotion activities has led to clutter, leading companies to cut each other and thus eroding the bottom line.

In mature markets sales promotion does not do much in attracting new customers but only switchers who are dear prone.

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INTRODUCTION OF THE PROBLEM

MARKETING STRATEGY BY AIRTEL

Bharti decided to design different marketing strategies for different circles depending on the strategies, employed by the competitors. While the company was focusing on its pricing strategies, its competitors in various sectors were concentrated on new service offerings and value additions since the players almost immediately matched price reduction moves, companies had begun focusing on developing value-added offerings and schemes to expand their market and gain customer loyalty. Analysts remarked that the players were coming up with new schemes or value-additions almost every week to get the better of their competitors. By constantly keeping itself abreast with the moves of its competitors and launching various proactive/reactive schemes, Bharti was able to retain its leadership position. Despite continual attacks from Vodafone, Reliance, , Idea Cellular and Bsnl, Bhartis cellular services received good high response in all circles during 2005. It was reported that in Mumbai, 60-75% of customers seeking Airtel services were BPL Mobile and Hutch subscribers. In fact, it was becoming difficult for the company to activate cellular connections in Mumbai swiftly on account of the high rush in some cases; it took almost three days to activate a connection. Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the Airtel services is to promote the brand awareness and to build brand preferences. It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular phone is a 53

high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an effective differentiator Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing outbrochures aboutthe company and its services to all consumers.About 50,000 direct callers were sent out.When the name waswell entrenched in the Delhiitess mind, the Airtel campaignbegan to focus on the utility of Cellphone.In the first fourmonths alone Airtei's advertisement spends exceeded Rs. 4crores.As of today the awareness level is 60% unaided.This impliesthat if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to namea Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/hermind 60% of them would name Airtel.As for aided it -is 100%(by giving clues and hints etc.). Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measuredby the percentage score of the brand on the above aided and theunaided tests.The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and athriving brand. Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales targetand a game plan with due regard to its competitor.Airtel 'scampaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketingstrategy.The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads aredesigned to convey the image of a market leader in terms of itsmarket share.It tries to portray the image of being a "firstmover every time" and that of a "market leader".

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The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the maturity stage. The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side shows the revenue share earned from the three types of users. Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other segment cannot be neglected. The population which has just realized the importance of cellular phones has to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being organized by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in determining the target audience. Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are . People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs. There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch advertisements, promotional advertisements. launch advertisements, attacking congratulatory advertisements advertisements, and tactical

advertise-ments,

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WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER?

With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets him/her be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let him/her manage his/her time like never before. An Airtel subscriber is provided with a Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM card) - that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card activates Airtel cellular services and contains a complete micro-computer chip with memory to enable one to enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly. Each SIM card contains a PIN code (Personal Identity Number) which may be entered by one. Just plug your SIM card into your cellular phone, enter the PIN code and it becomes 'your' personal phone'.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE The pattern of cell phone subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the world reveals that the growth in the market is initially slow followed by a sharp acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as the Product Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the maturity stage.

Introduction

Growth

Maturity

MARKETING OBJECTIVES Create product awareness and trial Maximize market share Maximize profits whole defending market share

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PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
Airtel to Touch Tomorrow with a new brand vision The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at reengineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of mobile communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that come along with it The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business strategy". The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colors along with lower case typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in all of its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.

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TARGET MARKET SEGMENT

Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. It is also planning to target the business tourists during their stay in the capital about 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign organizations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen. During the introduction stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further a field.

POSITIONING The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cell phone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the point that the cell phone is actually a day-to-day utility

PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING

The product or services the hearts of the marketing mix. Without a product or a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied. The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognized the significance of making the first move-because in the field of Communication & Information Technology changes occur at a 58

tremendous pace. Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry out this segmentation through provision of new information services and making new facilities available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to optimize the price performance package by offering suitable "product bundling". This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers. In addition, it offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer service. Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services become the effective differentiator. The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtela re:-

Voice Mail service

This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the user

Short Message Service

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The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the intervention of an operator Mobile Fax 1 Data Service This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet.

Cash Card

The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their calls.

Caller ID Displays calling person's number.

Outgoing call restriction

To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number.

Call forward 60

Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone. Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call Broadcast ET cetera.It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that initially cell phones would be used buy]

Roaming Facility

Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as well as semi-automatically. Once a subscriber is in any other city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM card of the local operator into your handset and start talking.

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OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
I have further improved my objectives as specified in my synopsis with the help of my mentor Mr. Abhishek Abraham which are as follows

Primary research objective:-

To study and interpret the sales promotion schemes running by airtel in NCRzone. And to know that how the consumer can be retain for maximum time on same network.

Secondary research objective:-

To study and analysis the Marketing and Promotional strategy adopted by Airtel in NCR Region.

To determine the most popular telecom brand To determine the average age on consumers on same network To determine the best sales promotion scheme To determine the consequences of current schemes

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HYPOTHESIS

The Scope of the Research study would include the geographic & Demographic region of NCR. The research targets the retailers and distributors who deal into telecom services and the time period of the survey is from June 2012.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there is no hypothesis that has to be tested. The conclusions have been drawn by exploratory research work. There have been two sources of information collected: The procedures by which researchers go about their work of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena are called methodology. Methods comprise the procedures used for generating, collecting and evaluating data. Methods are ways of obtaining information useful for assessing explanations.

RESEARCH DEFINITION: The definition of research given by Creswell is "Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue". It consists of three steps: Pose a question, collect data to answer the question, and present an answer to the question.

Research Design: The type of research chosen for the study is descriptive research. In descriptive research various parameters will be chosen and analyzing the variations between these parameters. This was done with an objective to find out the motivation level of the employees.

Data Sources: The data collected for the study is mainly through the distribution of questionnaire; to be precise the data collected for study was both primary and secondary sources.

Primary Data: Primary data is the information collected for the first time; there are several methods in which the data is complied. In this project it was obtained by mean of questionnaires. Questionnaire was prepared and distributed to the people.

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Secondary Data: Secondary data needed for conducting research work were collected from company websites, library and search engines.

Research Instrument: In this study the primary data was collected by survey technique. In this we distributed the questionnaires to the respondents. The researcher structured the questionnaire in the form of: 1. Multiple Choice Questions

Questionnaire: A questionnaire is a sheet of paper containing questions relating to contain specific aspect, regarding which the researcher collects the data. Because of their flexibility the questionnaire method is by far the most common instrument to collect primary data. The questionnaire is given to the respondent to be filled up.

Sampling Design: Sampling design is to clearly define set of objective, technically called the universe to be studied. Sampling technique used is simple random sampling method.

Sample Size: This refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample. The sample size for this study was taken as 100.

Statistical Tools Used: The data collected was analyzed by employing the following statistical technique: Percentage analysis: Percentage refers to special kind of ration. It is used in making comparison between two or more series of data. It is used to describe relationship. It is used to analyses the data. Bar charts, pie charts were used to explain tabulation clearly.

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RESEARCH DESIGN

Descriptive Design.

PROCEDURE FOR DATA COLLECTION. Communication, asking questions and receiving a response in person Visiting the various organizations, libraries, internet and also preparation of the questionnaire with the help of the project guide.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

PRIMARY METHOD: - Data was collected from respondents through direct interaction and through personal meetings.

SECONDARY METHOD: - External study data has also been used through internet. And through news letters & journals.

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DATA COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS

GSM MOBILE MARKET SHARE IN INDIATELECOM COMPANY BHARTI AIRTEL VODAFONE ESSAR IDEA CELLULAR BSNL AIRCEL RELIANCE MTNL LOOP MOBILE UNINOR STEL SHARE{%} 30.86% 23.87% 15.19% 15.08% 8.38% 4.0% 1.17% 0.69% 0.64% 0.13%

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SHARE{%}
0.69 1.17 4 8.38 30.86 AIRTEL VODAFONE IDEA 15.08 BSNL AIRCEL RELIANCE MTNL LOOP 15.19 23.87 UNINOR STEL 0.64 0.13

From the above data its can be say that Airtel is the leading brand in telecom industry of India , having 30.86% market share and 121.7 million customers. And second leading brand is Vodafone with 23.87% market share. Airtel is most admired brand by consumers.

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AIRTEL MARKET SHARES IN NCR.

MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS ETC.} MARKET SHARE 34.5% {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. 65.5%

MARKET SHARE

34.50% AIRTEL OTHERS 65.50%

Airtel is the most leading and admired brand in NCR zone with 34.5% market share. Airtel is providing the best telecom services with better promotional schemes and with heavy advertisement. Bharti AIRTEL ltd. is a part of Bharti airtel ltd. which is formatted for UP zone. Bharti AIRTEL is allotted 20 distribution points and 6 territory managers in all over NCR. So that the customers and retailers can easily use the services.

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MARKET CONDITION OF AIRTEL IN NCRS DIFFERENT AREAS WALL CITY

MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. ETC.} MARKET SHARE
38.4% 61.6%

MARKET SHARE

38.40% AIRTEL OTHERS 61.80%

Airtel is on 1st position in wall city area of NCR , wall city is the core area of NCR city. Airtel is having the 4 distribution points in only this area. Airtel is here leader because of its better services for retailers and consumers. Territory manager- Mr. Rakesh Sharma Distributers : Gupta brothers agency Rohini agencies

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S.S. marketing The delphine

Territory 2 (jhotwara, shashtri nagar, vidhadhar nagar etc.)

MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. ETC.} MARKET SHARE 35% 65%

MARKET SHARE

35% AIRTEL OTHERS 65%

This territory is divided in 4 distribution point. Airtel is again here on top rank with 35 % market share. In this area Airtel is best service providers among all other competitors. This is only because of best sales & marketing management by Airtel. Territory manager- Mr. Umang mishra Distributers : Singhal marketing co. 71

Murlidhar chimanilal Sandesh cellular pvt. Ltd. Manav agency

Territory 3 (tonk road, sodala, jawahar nagar etc.)

MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. ETC.} MARKET SHARE 33.45% 66.55%

MARKET SHARE

33.45% AIRTEL OTHERS 66.55%

Again Airtel is on 1st position with the 33.45 % market share in this area. Airtel is having 4 distribution point with experienced staff , providing excellent telecom services. In this area Vodafone is on second position.

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Territory manager- Mr. Ojesvi Distributers : Aditya agency Pawan specialties Sri nath services Shree jee services

Territory 4 (Noida, Ghaziabad, Modinagar etc.)

MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. ETC.}

MARKET SHARE 33.2% 66.8%

MARKET SHARE

33.20% AIRTEL OTHERS 66.80%

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Again Airtel is on 1st position with the 33.2 % market share in this area. Airtel is having 4 distribution point with experienced staff such as 9 FOS and 10 ARE. And providing excellent telecom services. In this area Vodafone is on second position. Territory manager- Mr. Pushpendra Distributers : Ganpati marketing Subhaashish Yash agency Bhasker agency

Territory 5 (Mohan nagar, Meerut, Mawana etc.)

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MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. ETC.}

MARKET SHARE 33% 67%

MARKET SHARE

33% AIRTEL OTHERS 67%

In this area Airtel is on top position with 33 % market share . This territory is devided in Distribution point with a experienced staff of 7 FOS and 6 ARE. In this area Airtel isBest service providers among all other competitors. This is only because of best sales &Marketing management. Territory manager- Mr. Shailendra Distributers : Sagar enterprises R L associates Suryansh marketing

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 Modern TradeModern trade is a different concept of Airtel marketing strategy. Its having separate management style of sales & marketing. Under this concept the company having tie-up with around 115 mobile outlets such as The mobile store, planet M, Hotspot mobile point etc. in all over NCR zone. Modern trade is very effective and beneficial concept . In this Airtel is having 95% market share and rest 5 % of others brands like Vodafone, idea, banal etc. MOBILE NETWORK AIRTEL OTHERS {VODAFONE,IDEA,REL. ETC.} MARKET SHARE 95% 5%

MARKET SHARE
5%

AIRTEL OTHERS

95%

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Territory manager- Mr. Lokesh Distribution point : Shiv maya

SALES PROMOTION BY AIRTEL IN NCR ZONE

Airtel is leading and most admired brand in NCR. Airtel is contributing 34.5% market in this zone and rest 65.5% market is acquired by all other companies such as Vodafone , idea, bsnl etc. This shows that Airtel is doing best in telecommunication industry. Bharti Airtel Ltd. having its own separate entity named as BHARTI AIRTEL LTD. for UP region. Earlier Airtel was providing mobile SIM cards at very low price or totally free, but the consequences occurred that the consumer age on network could not be for a long period because the consumers did not paid for that SIM card and whatever they got as talk value and other useful schemes, they were used it and threw the SIM cards. Than the Airtel decided to make a change in this procedure of activations. Now Airtel providing a mobile connection at a specific price so if customer buy it than he will be with network for a long period because he has paid a amount for it.

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 Activation scheme of may,2012 FRC Talk time Call rate Up front Lending Rs61+10Rs Sim charge 55+30{A to A min.} 50p./min{local,std} 15+10 Rs{for retailer} 46Rs Rs31+10RsSimcharge 25+15{A to A min.} 50p./min{local,std} 10+10{for retailer} 21Rs

Airtel launched two FRC plan in may,2012 ie. Rs 61 and Rs 31. And 10 Rs for SIM card. In FRC 61 customer gets 55 Rs as main talk value and 30 min. for A to A network. And call rate will be 50p./min for local & National call on any network. For this scheme Airtel decided to give some commission 15+10 Rs. And in FRC of Rs.31 customer gets 25 Rs as main talk value and 15 min. for A to A network. And call rate will be 50p./min for local & National call on any network. And retailers get 10+10 Rs as commission.

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TOTAL CONNECTIONS OF UP , (April,2012)

MOBILE NETWORK Airtel Others

TOTAL CONNECTIONS 823,000 (33.85%) 16,08,000 (66.15%)

CONNECTIONS

33.85% AIRTEL OTHERS 66.15%

From the above statistics it can be say that the airtel contributed in highest ratio, with 33.85% in UP zone. The market base was 2431000 activations in April, 2012and only airtelcontributedaround 823,000 activations.

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TOTAL CONNECTIONS OF UP , (May,2012)

MOBILE NETWORK Airtel Others

TOTAL CONNECTIONS 800,000 (33.43%) 15,93,000 (66.57%)

CONNECTIONS

33.43% AIRTEL OTHERS 66.57%

From the above data it can be say that the airtel contributed in highest ratio,with 33.43% in UP zone. The market base was 2393000 activations in May, 2012 and only airtel

contributed around 800000 activations.

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COMPETITIORS SCHEMES (MAY, 2012)

VODAFONE

FRC TALK VALUE CALL RATE UP FRONT {FOR RETAILERS}

Rs 28 20 Rs 50P./min{Local & National} 18 Rs

RELIANCE INDIA MOBILE.

FRC TALK VALUE CALL RATE

Rs 84 51 Rs

Rs 85 51 Rs

Rs 86 51 Rs {Local 1Rs./3 {Local National} Min. &

1P./Sec {Local & 50p./Sec National} & National}

UP FRONT (FOR RETAILERS )

63 Rs

62 Rs

61 Rs

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IDEA CELLULAR

FRC TALK VALUE CALL RATE

Rs 47 30+20 Rs

Rs 49 30+20 Rs

Rs 130 100 Rs 1P./Sec {Local &

1P./Sec {Local & 40p./Min.{Local} National}

60p./Min.{National} National} 18 Rs 50 Rs

UP FRONT (FOR RETAILERS )

20 Rs

Above all activation plans launched by Airtels competitors in May, 2012. These all plans have same motive that is to increase the water fall of total activations. Water fall here refers for the age of a consumer on the network, means a sim card is to be activated than for how much days or months this card be used or be with same network. And for increase this water fall Airtel launched the different schemes for prepaid connections. WATER FALL (JAN12) - 71 % WATER FALL (FEB12) 68% WATER FALL (MARCH12) 75%

Airtel started some other promotional programs such as activation contest for retailers , bonus issues for its employees and retailers. Airtel announced many gifts for retailers to motivate them . So the retailers put their efforts and interest 82

to increase the sales and no. of activations. Airtel gives a commission on 2.5% to retailers on every recharge sale. And gives a good return to retailers on their every activation.

Activation scheme of June,2012

FRC Talk time Call rate Up front Lending

Rs61+10Rs Sim charge 50+15 min.+160sms 1p./sec{local},1.2p./sec{std} 10+15{for retailer} 46Rs

Rs62+10RsSimcharge 50+15 min.+160sms 50p./min{local,std} 10+15{for retailer} 47Rs

FRC Talk time Call rate Up front Lending

Rs31+10Rs Sim charge 25+6 min.+90sms 1p./sec{local},1.2p./sec{std} 10+10{for retailer} 21Rs

Rs32+10RsSimcharge 25+6 min.+90sms 50p./min{local,std} 10+10{for retailer} 22Rs

In the month of June Airtel make a change in the FRC schemes . which has shown in above index. Airtel did so to compete in the market. Airtel also launched a sales 83

promotional program named as MANSOON MAHOTSAV along with all schemes. Under this program company has fixed some bonus and gifts for the retailers on some easy conditions and targets. The retailers pay their concentrations on airtel mobile activations.

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 MANSOON MAHOTSAV
This program is brings by airtel for its retailers to motivate and attract them. Airtel believes that if the retailers are put their efforts and interest to increase the no. of activation so it will gives the most effective result to the company. So to enhance the interest of retailers airtel starts this promotional program. DETAIL OF GIFT VOUCHERS{MANSOON MAHOTSAV} POINTS GIFTS

5 Ltr. Camper/ Bombay dyeing linen 300 650 1000 1500 3500 5500 7500 10,000 15,000 30,000 35,000 55,000 90,000 125,000 20gm Silver/ 3Pc casserole/Steam iron 30gm Silver/ Ceiling fan(Branded) 45gm Silver/ JMG 110gm Silver/ HP photo copier(F4488) Digital Camera 7 MP/ Home theater / 3gm Gold Microwave/ 250gm Silver Washing machine/ 5gm Gold/ 19 LCD/ HP photo copier (1136) 1.5 Tn AC/ 7gm Gold/ Handy cam 32 LCD/ Laptop/ 15gm Gold Bike CD DOWN/ 18gm Gold Bike Hero Honda passion/ 30gm Gold 50gm Gold TATA Nano car

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COMPETITIORS SCHEMES (JUNE, 2012) VODAFONE

FRC TALK VALUE CALL RATE UP FRONT

Rs 28 20 Rs 1P./Sec {Local, National} {For 8 Rs

Rs 29 20 Rs 50p./Min {Local, National} 8 Rs

Retailers}

FRC TALK VALUE CALL RATE UP FRONT

Rs 48 40 Rs 1P./Sec {Local, National} {For 18 Rs

Rs 98 98 Rs 1P./Sec {Local, National} 28 Rs

Retailers}

RELIANCE MO.

FRC TALK VALUE CALL RATE UP FRONT

Rs 85 40 Rs

Rs 86 40 Rs

50p./Min {Local, National} 1P./Sec {Local, National} {For 65 Rs 65 Rs

Retailers}

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FINDINGS

1. Airtel holds number one position in India with 30.86 % market share. 2. Same as in NCR zone Airtel is on 1st position with 34.5% market share. 3. In NCR zone Airtel having 20 distributers and around 2800 retailers. 4. Airtel launches every month a new FRC scheme. 5. Earlier Airtel provided SIM cards at very low price or free. But this method was not so effective because consumers started making it use and throw kind of stuff. By this way company was being unable to make such stable and long last consumers. 6. Now airtel launches some FRC schemes. So the customer has to pay a amount for a new sim activation. By this way now consumer age is started being long. 7. Vodafone is the biggest competitor of Airtel in telecom industry. 8. The distributer gives different scheme to different shopkeepers. 9. Mostly retailers are satisfied with Airtel service. 10. Some retailers reported that they do not get time to time airtel products. 11. Some retailers are not satisfied with margin policy of Airtel. 12. Earlier the FRC plan 61 launched that time some light retailers were facing problem to convince the customers. Because competitors were providing same plan at low cost. 13. Some Outlets owners are very angry with the companys performance because they did well in Airtel mo. Connection but they were not appreciated by the company.

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14. Some retailers are facing problem in ID verification policy of Airtel. Because the company make so strict this procedure. 15. Many customers are diverted to other network due to strictness in id verification. 16. Some retailers reported that the company does not provide enough return on their performance. 17.Modern trade is very effective concept. In this concept the Airtel is contributing 95% market. And rest 5% covered by all other competitors.

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SUGGESTION

First of all company will provide all its dealers and retailers to all sort of promotion equipment such as glow sign board, banner, pumplates etc. in time so that they increase their sales which is benefited both retailer as well as company.

Few outlets are unaware about scheme so proper communication is necessary between distributor and retailers.

Number of hoarding should be increased. Company should be lenient in ID verification procedure. To increase the consumer as on network, company should make change in its FRC plan for example the talk value should be divided in two parts. 50% of talk value should provide at the time of activation and rest T.T. provide after gap of some days.

Company should make understand its retailers about the benefits of consumer as on network.

Company should give extra return and other bonus, gifts to its retailers so they put their full efforts to increase the Airtel sales.

Company should motivate its sales staff so they will pay more concentration in sales and activation of new connections.

Company should make some necessary change in its FRC plan. For example company should divide the talk time in to two time {50% at the time of activation + 50% after 15 days.}

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LIMITATION OF STUDY

Many retailers do not cooperate and searching of retailer outlet name was much more difficult as many of them have not put their Shop name in Board.

Dealers and Retailer do not like to give information of their selling. The projection is purely based on verbal meeting and may be influenced by unprecedented factors

Lack of interest in retailers to provide full information of their performance. Problem occurred in collection of competition details from the retailers.

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CONCLUSION

Every thing in this world is made to utilize properly but it should be reach at the proper person or to the proper utilized areas. Otherwise the value added to those things became in vein. Thus promotion role plays a very important role in achieving the objectives of a company. Undoubtly, value utility is created by the manufacture of product or service but time and place utilities are created by marketing role. The various finding and befitting recommendation have been made to increase the market share of each product(postpaid, prepaid) of Airtel thereby increasing the market share of Airtel as a whole. Various facts and data have been enclosed for better perusal and various graphs have been provided for better comprehension. Sales Promotion techniques yield results that many other marketing communication elements cannot achieve. Sales promotion that is used in with the overall long-turn communication strategy of the brand is said to use strategically. A promotion should not be used for the sole purpose of altering sales in the short run . Sales promotion is used as a very strategic tool to introduce a new product. Although advertising plays a large role towards creating awareness and attitude information, sales promotion used to make new product launch easier and more effective.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEB SITES-

BOOKS C.R Kothari , Research Methodology , Vishwa Publication , New Delhi , II Edition William G. Zikmund , Business Research Methods , 2003 Edition

MAGAZINES Business today India today Forbes India

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QUESTIONNAIRE

I Vikrant Chaudhary a final year student of Galghotia MBA (Marketing) . I have prepared the following questionnaire for the completion of my summer project. I promise that all the answer provided by you wont be made public. This questionnaire is purely for educational purpose.

BHARTI AIRTEL Name: __________________________________________________________________

Age: ________ Occupation _____________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________

Phone No. _________________________________________________________________

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QUESTIONNAIRE
QUS (1)Do you have any mobile connection? QUS (2) Which age group you belong to? (a)15-20 (b)20-25 (c)25-35 (d)35- above QUS (3) What occupation do you have? (a)Business (b)Professional (c)Government Employee (d)Student QUS (4) Do you know how many telecommunication companies exist in Lucknow region? (a)6 (b)5 (c)4 (d)Not confirm QUS (5) If you have to purchase mobile phone connection which company you will prefer and why? (a)Airtel (b)Reliance (c)TATA indicom (d)Vodafone QUS (6)How you came to know the scheme/service that you use? (a) Advertisements (c) Internet (b) Word of Mouth (d) Promotional activity

QUS (7) You would like to take Prepaid connection or Post paid connection?

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