New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS): Spread of mobile telephones and better roads in the past decade has fuelled growth in rural India, inhabited by 800 million people and a market worth $425 billion, experts noted at a meet here Wednesday.

They said the thrust should now be on developing basic infrastructure and providing more services, especially in the new census towns.

"The spread of mobile telephones, better road connectivity in the past decade and doubling of the number of people attending schools have contributed significantly to the development of rural India," said Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen.

Addressing a Confederation of Indian Industry meet on "Rural Services-The Next Growth Enabler", Sen said the government and the private sector should now focus on developing infrastructure and providing services in the new census towns that have come up near the cities but are technically covered under the various rural development schemes.

"PURA (provision of urban amenities in rural areas) scheme of the government should focus on new census towns that have developed near the cities as they technically come under rural growth programmes," said Sen.

A census town is a place where more than 5,000 people live. It has a population density of more than 400 per square km, with three-fourths of male workforce employed in non-agricultural jobs. The number of such towns have almost trebled from 1,362 to 3,894 between the 2001 and 2011 census.

Other speakers at the meet also said the expansion of the services sector that has benefited the Indian economy has remained largely urban-centric.

"The focus has not been on rural area which have a growth potential. Villages need financial, skill-based and mechanised services," said Subodh Bhargava, former CII chief.

Rural development secretary S. Vijay Kumar said that economic development was necessary for inclusive growth.

Noting that roads are the first step towards rural development, Kumar said out of Rs.95,000 crore allocated for the purpose under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in the 11th five-year plan (2007-8 to 2011-12), Rs.75,000 crore were spent in building new roads and upgrading existing ones in the villages.

"This has facilitated rural growth," said Kumar.

However, Sanjay Panigrahi, who runs the non-governmental SREI e-village Limited, said community-based strategies, rather than uniform growth models, are best suited for 6.5 lakh villages in India.