After an unprecedented decline of 19 percent in the January-March quarter, the FMCG industry has displayed signs of recovery in the September quarter with a YoY growth of 1.6 percent, according to market insight firm Nielsen. Not just that but now Kantar has come up with a study which shows that the market expanded 4.9 percent by volume in the September quarter, the highest in three years, helped by a rise in hygiene category purchases and out-of-home snack purchases shifting to in-home.

The market, which grew 5.3 percent in city areas, would have grown a lot slower at 0.8 percent without the COVID impact, in accordance with a research by world shopper analysis agency Kantar Worldpanel (previously IMRB). “COVID seems to have rescued FMCG from a possibly underwhelming performance. In relation to projected trends of what could have been in the absence of COVID, the growth seems to have been three times in second quarter and even higher in third quarter,” stated K Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, South Asia, Kantar World Panel.

The strict lockdown interval between April and May noticed the market rising 3.9 percent, hit by provide distributions and retailer closures. However, the following two months, which the researcher known as a ‘transition period’ noticed 4.8 percent growth, helped by a delayed breakout of the pandemic in rural areas. Demand improved in the course of the opening-up interval of August and September to 5 percent as workplaces resumed partially and grooming classes began choosing up in line with different hygiene segments.

According to Kantar, manufacturers which have greater penetration managed to largely develop their volume regardless of the pandemic however smaller ones misplaced volume. “During such environmental adversity, the gap between the strong performers and the weak performers goes up. People are going for trusted brands that have distribution strength, stronger working capital and better supply chains,” stated Saugata Gupta, Managing Director, Marico Limited.