Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) witnessed a 17.5 per cent growth in rural areas in March, while the urban areas witnessed a 6.1 per cent growth in India.
According to monthly data released by Bizom, a retail intelligence platform that tracks consumer product sales across 7.5 million outlets, FMCG sales grew by 14.1 per cent YoY in March.
Beverages and personal care witnessed negative growth by 1.5 per cent and 9.5 per cent while commodities, packaged foods, home care and confectionery segments witnessed positive growth.
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“A strong increase in the number of kirana outlets by almost double digits YoY in rural areas helped post strong growth in FMCG sales for March 2023. Rural areas saw some level of the stock push for summer products at kirana stores, as well as driving year-end sales in March 2023,” said Akshay D’Souza, Chief of Growth & Insights, Bizom.
Rural demand conditions remain soft compared to urban demands according to ICICI Securities.
“With softening of major commodity prices, FMCG companies have taken price cuts and grammage increases in the last six months. This is expected to result in a volume uptick in Q4FY23. We estimate our FMCG coverage universe to see 9.8 per cent revenue growth in Q4FY23 led by a mix of volume and pricing,” mentions ICICI securities preview on FMCG.
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“In FY24, we expect to see food inflation trending lower worldwide. Also, in India, with the competitive scenario intensifying for FMCG, we do expect to see a drop in prices across categories, which could help boost consumption,” added D’Souza.
Companies stated that they are seeing an uptick in demand for FMCG products after a dip.
“The demand last month was a bit low due to high fluctuations in rates of food products and edible oils. However, the rates are stable now and we see good demand this month”, says Ashish Khandelwal, Managing Director, BL Agro.