FMCG volume growth slows down, stress on purchases, says report

The FMCG volume growth in the country has slowed down mainly due to deceleration in food and beverage segment, according to a report by consumer data and insight company Worldpanel by Numerator.

The slowdown in growth is majorly in food & beverage (F&B) with an increased spending due to food inflation, it added.

"The volume growth slowdown across urban and rural indicates stress on FMCG purchases," it said.

The MAT (Moving Annual Total) volume growth of the FMCG (excluding wheat) till May 2025 was 4 per cent. This was over 6 per cent a year before in the same period, it added.

Similarly, value growth of the FMCG (excluding wheat) has declined to 7.9 per cent on MAT basis by May 2025. This was at 8.3 per cent on MAT basis by May 2025.

The moving annual total is the total value of a variable, such as sales figures for a product, over the course of the previous 12 months.

The report also said F&B (excl Wheat) Volume Growth has dipped to 4.4 per cent by MAT May, which was at 7 per cent a year before in the corresponding period.

In personal care, volume growth has dipped to 4.3 per cent and value growth to 8.4 per cent. This was at 4.7 per cent and 11.7 per cent a year before in MAT May 2024.

In household care, value growth has dipped to 7.9 per cent from 14.9 per cent and volume growth to 3.8 per cent from 3.6 per cent.

The report also highlighted that consumer clusters sare haping India's FMCG. It had classified the country into four macro clusters - The Urban Affluent, The Urban Middle, represented by the middle class, the Urban Masses, and finally the Rural.

According to Worldpanel by Numerator MD- South Asia, K Ramakrishnan: "India cannot be looked from a single lens. That is an age-old truth. There are numerous ways to cluster and segment shoppers, and we used two popular parameters - Affluence level, represented by the NCCS and Geography, represented by the population strata (based on the household population of the towns)."

Each of these had sub-clusters within, which points out to India being many markets within a market.

"The Urban Affluent are a small cluster - 3 per cent of Indian households, and are the ones who are driving the demand for Convenience, with their busy lifestyles. Categories like Frozen foods, Ready to cook mixes see significant growth in this cluster," he said.

The Urban Middle are the format upgraders. Moving to premium detergents, trying body wash instead of bar soaps, adding conditioners to their basket etc., This is the biggest Urban segment with 21 per cent of Indian households being represented.

The Urban Masses, represented by 12 per cent of the Indian households, do try new products, but cautiously; the non-metro masses who are a sub-segment within the Urban Masses have a larger household size (5 vs. 4) and therefore, buy more packs and make more shopping trips.

Finally, the biggest cluster of them all, the Rural is going beyond essentials.

"In 2021 they were buying 22 categories, and in 2022 they were buying 24 categories on an average. Each Cluster therefore, has its own theme and need, which comes alive with the purchase data. Knowing these themes is important in winning these clusters," he said.