In the January-March period of 2024, the Indian FMCG industry experienced a 6.5% growth in terms of volume at a national level, a recent report said.

The consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ has further said that the rural consumption has been surpassing the urban for the first time in five quarters.

In terms of value, the FMCG industry experienced a 6.6% growth, attributed to a 6.5% increase in volume at an all-India level.

The volume growth for this quarter was higher than Q1 2023, which stood at 3.1%, it added.

Both food and non-food sectors contributed to the growth in consumption in the first quarter of 2024, but non-food saw almost double the growth as compared to food, it said.

The quarterly snapshot pointed out that there is a consumption slowdown in urban and modern trade, while there is an uptick in rural and traditional trade.

“Rural consumption growth has gradually picked up pace and has surpassed urban (growth) in Q12024. Urban sees sequential decline in consumer demand leading to 5.7% this quarter,” NIQ said.

The report said that within the retail sector, modern trade continues to exhibit strong double-digit volume growth at 14.7%.

On the other hand, the traditional trade experienced stable growth, with volumes registering 5.6% growth in Q1 2024, compared to 5.3% in the previous quarter.

At a pan India level, both food and non-food sectors contributed to the growth in consumption but non-food saw almost double the growth as compared to food.

“More units were purchased in food categories compared to the same period last year, whereas in non-food, more large packs were bought,” it said.

In Q1 2024, the volume growth in the food sector was 4.8% compared to Q1 2023, down from 5.3% in Q4 2023.

In non-food categories, there is an improvement, with consumption reaching 11.1% in Q1 2024 compared to last year, an increase from the 9.6% recorded in Q4 2023.

“This improvement can be attributed to an increase in rural uptick, with a growth rate of 12.8% in Q1 2024, versus 9.8% in Q4 2023, led by personal care & home care categories,” the report said.

In urban areas, the non-food sector is witnessing increasing consumption in personal care growing at 8.4 per cent in Q1 2024, as against 5.8 per cent in Q4 2023.