While rural growth (5.7%) remains stronger than urban (2.5%), the packaged food category is booming (13.6% growth) as lower GST rates accelerate the shift.
India’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market has slipped in November due to price cuts triggered by the GST rate changes. All-India value growth stood at 4.4% for November 2025, below October’s 6.8%, data shared by retail intelligence platform Bizom shows.
Bizom does not provide volume growth figures. It tracks value growth across FMCG categories.
Rural value growth, according to Bizom, was ahead of overall FMCG growth at 5.7% for November. But the gap between urban and rural value growth is once again widening, raising concerns about a stable recovery in urban areas. Urban value growth stood at 2.5% for November, after reporting a sharp rebound of 6.3% in October. Last month, rural value growth was 7.1%.
“The post-Diwali period in November does tend to show some weakness in demand. But this year the value growth numbers in November are depressed because the GST-induced lower-priced products have landed in stores,” Harshit Bora, analytics head, Bizom, said.
Bora said that the domestic FMCG market, especially in urban areas, may take a month to fully stabilise before showing a consistent performance in terms of growth rates. This point has been made by most other FMCG executives who point that the recovery in urban areas will be gradual.
“Inflation has begun to stabilise in the second half of the ongoing fiscal. It is softening gradually. Alongside this, the last Union Budget made important changes to income tax, which released a significant amount of money into the hands of consumers. I see consumers having the means to fulfil their aspirations. This positive trend in FMCG will continue into the second half of the current fiscal,” Manish Tiwary, CMD, Nestle India, said.
