Rural FMCG sales outgrew urban for the first time in 5 quarters in Q1: NielsenIQ
urban consumption for packaged consumer goods in the January-March ’24 quarter for the first time in five quarters, consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ (NIQ) said in its quarter sector update on Tuesday. While urban demand declined sequentially at 5.7% in the quarter, rural markets, which are crucial for overall FMCG growth, grew at 7.6%.
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Overall, the FMCG sector grew 6.6% by value led by consumption, while price growth remained flat at 0.1%, NielsenIQ said.
«The FMCG industry's growth continues to be driven by consumption trends, with rural areas surpassing urban growth for the first time in five quarters,” Roosevelt D Souza, head of customer success, India, at NIQ, said.
By volumes, or number of units sold, overall the sector grew 6.5% nationally for the January-March ’24 quarter. Volume growth in the corresponding year-ago quarter was 3.1%.
Sales in the non-food sector grew 11%, two times faster than food which grew 4.8% by volume.
Noting that home and personal care categories (HPC) outperformed foods, D Souza said: “While food categories witness higher unit purchases, the growth in HPC is largely driven by the popularity of larger pack sizes.”
NielsenIQ said while there was a consumption slowdown in urban markets and modern trade channels, there was an uptick in rural India and traditional trade.
Within the retail sector, modern trade continued to exhibit strong double-digit volume growth at 14.7%. Traditional Trade, on the other hand,
