FMCG firms dig deep in the hinterland to spur sagging rural demand

The rural market, which accounts for 36 per cent of India's FMCG market by sales, contributed 60 per cent to the slowdown

Recently, when Suresh Narayanan, chairman and managing director of Nestle India, was discussing macro-trends affecting the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, he did not hold back from expressing his concerns about rural distress. Faltering sales of fast moving consumer goods manufacturers in the rural market could be the bigger concern for most, he said.

Some days later, Sanjiv Mehta, chief executive of the country’s largest non-cigarette FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever (HUL), voiced similar concerns. Mehta’s HUL, which managed to maintain its July-September volume growth at five per cent, asserted that the sharp deceleration was led by a slowdown in