22 May 2024
It is the first time in two years that the rural regions in India have seen more sales of FMCG products such as shampoos, soaps, detergent bars, than the urban areas. In the March quarter (Q1), the FMCG sector had a volume growth of 6.5%, which is more than 3.1% growth the industry saw in the same period in 2023. The consumption of FMCG products in the urban areas for the same time frame was at 5.7%, while for the rural markets it was 7.6% due to a huge demand for home and personal care (HPC) products.
The fall in urban consumption is mainly due to a slump in volume growth for staples such as salt, oil, rice, and wheat. Also, staples have a 46% weightage in the food segment, so a drop in the consumption in this sector leads to a huge fall in overall demand. The fall in consumption of staples is due to the high prices in other oil categories. Even the volume growth in the food segment dropped from 5.3% to 4.8% quarterly.
