Chennai: Rural demand for packaged consumer goods outpaced urban markets for the first time in five quarters, while the FMCG industry witnessed 6.5 per cent growth in sales volume in the March quarter, according to NielsenIQ.
Rural markets, which have remained a significant concern for India’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies for longer than a year, outpaced the urban market after 15 months. Rural demand was up by 7.6 per cent in the March quarter. On the other hand, urban markets reported a 5.7 per cent year-on-year rise in demand and the growth was slower than the December quarter’s 6.9 per cent increase. According to NielsenIQ, there was a “gradual uptick” in rural consumption that surpassed urban consumption in the March quarter.
In the March quarter, the FMCG industry reported a 6.6 per cent growth in value terms, driven by a 6.5 per cent increase in volumes. The volume growth for this quarter was higher than Q1 2023, which stood at…