Resilient FMCG growth in India, rural continues to outpace Urban: NIQ

Mumbai, 8th August 2024: NielsenIQ (NIQ), the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, released the FMCG Quarterly Snapshot for Q2’24 (AMJ’24) today. According to the report, the Indian FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) industry has experienced a 4.0% growth in value, reflecting the industry’s resilience despite a slight moderation in volume growth to 3.8%. Price growth stabilized at a modest 0.2% in Q2’24, underscoring a stable market environment.
Roosevelt Dsouza, Head of Customer Success – India at NIQ, stated, “The Indian FMCG industry growth has been steady, reflecting its resilience and adaptability. The sector experienced a 4.0% value growth in Q2 2024, attributed to relaxed consumption patterns. This deceleration in volumes is largely due to macroeconomic headwinds. While rural volume growth at +5.2% continues to outpace the 2.8% growth in urban areas, both regions experienced softer consumption this quarter.”

Market Dynamics: Rural continues to outpace urban
Urban and Modern Trade markets see a sequential slowdown in consumer demand in Q2’24. Urban consumption growth dips to 2.8% from 5.7% in Q1’24 while Rural growth is at 5.2% vs 7.6% in the last quarter. However, Rural outpaces urban in most parts of India in terms of volume growth. Modern Trade continues to exhibit double-digit volume growth at 10.9%, however slower than last quarter (Q1’24). Volumes decelerated for Traditional Trade registering 3.1% growth in Q2’24 compared to 5.6% in the previous quarter (Q1’24). 

Easing growth rate in consumer demand for Food and Non-Food Products
FMCG consumption growth has been primarily impacted by the Food sector, with growth at 2.4% in Q2’24 compared to 4.8% in Q1’24 (refer to Chart 3). This moderation in volume growth is attributed to Staple categories – Packaged Salt, Packaged Atta, and Palm Oil. In Non-Food categories, the volume growth is at 7.6% in Q2’24 compared to last year, a drop from 11.1% in Q1’24. This downtrend in consumer demand for Personal Care & Home Care categories is observed in both Urban and Rural. In Urban markets, Personal Care categories are witnessing a volume growth at 5.2% in Q2’24 (vs. 9.7% in Q1’24), while in Rural it is resting at 8.3% in Q2’24 (vs. 10.6% in Q1’24). In Rural, high contributing categories Laundry and Utensil cleaners within Homecare witnessed slow consumption.
Over the Counter categories like Rubefacient, Analgesics exhibited a growth in value sales to 13.8% in Q1’24 backed by price growth.