Slowdown blues: Growth eludes FMCGs on GST, note ban impact

GDP growth for the June 2017 quarter came in at 5.7%, lower than the 6.1% reported in the January-March 2017 period

At three investor summits last fortnight, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the country’s largest consumer goods company, reiterated what peers had been saying for a while: That growth was slowing in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and rural was lagging urban markets. 

Since the release of the June quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers a month ago, industry captains have been vocal about the challenges faced by the Rs 3-lakh-crore domestic FMCG market.

“The trend over the past few quarters suggests there has been a consistent fall in (India’s)