The year 2022 was supposed to mark the recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns of the preceding two years. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February pushed up prices of food, fuel and fertilizer worldwide. In India consumer price inflation, which had declined to under 5 percent in the September-November period of 2021, has steadily increased, staying above 6 percent throughout 2022.    What happened to rural incomes in 2022? An...

Economic Times Unilever global chief executive Alan Jope said high inflation impacted demand from low income consumers in Indian villages even as growth remains stronger in cities. "The market growth in India remains stronger in urban areas than in rural areas and that reflects the high impact of high food inflation on low income consumers. We are seeing rural markets broadly flat in value terms with lower volumes," Jope said during its...

-PTI/ The Hindu ‘The consumption decline in the rural markets continues to be led by both double-digit price increases and lower unit growth’ The country's FMCG industry continued to witness consumption slowdown in the September quarter, with rural markets registering a higher decline in volumes compared to the three months ended June, says a report. Also, consumers continued to prefer purchasing smaller packets amid companies hiking prices in response to broader inflationary pressures,...

-PTI/ Financial Express Downtrading refers to the practice of switching from expensive products to cheaper alternatives by customers in a bid to conserve cash. FMCG manufacturers are opting to reduce product weight rather than price of items targeted at lower-end consumers, while resorting to single-digit price increase on some large packs and launching ‘bridge packs’, as they seek to overcome the impact of commodity price rise and unprecedented inflation. Besides, they are also...

-Livemint.com Top packaged consumer goods companies had also flagged slowing rural demand in the December quarter, citing inflationary pressures NEW DELHI: Top honchos of large fast moving consumer goods companies have flagged slowdown in rural demand in the March quarter, citing high inflation across products and commodities. Analysts Manoj Menon, Aniket Sethi, and Karan Bhuwania at brokerage ICICI Securities interviewed chief executive officers of companies such as Marico Ltd., Dabur India, and Tata...