The experts have predicted that with the provision of investments in rural infrastructure development, an extension of farm credit provisions, and focus on job creation as declared in the 2021 Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the consumption of FMCG products can gain a significant boost in the year. As such, there is a high chance that India’s fast-moving consumer goods sector, which is already showing considerable signs of recovery as the Covid restrictions are easing out gradually in the country, will further continue to rise and with it, the retail management dealing in FMCG products can expect to gain much-needed momentum in the year 2021.
Dabur India who is aiming to strengthen its rural footprint to 60,000 villages by the end of this financial year, its chief executive Mohit Malhotra thinks that the allocation under the rural infrastructure will expedite the development process in rural India which in turn can affect significantly in improving penetration and helping drive consumption of FMCG products.
The Finance Minister has announced an increase in rural infrastructure development by 34% to Rs 40,000 crore and doubling of micro-irrigation corpus to Rs 10,000 crore among other measures. Deloitte India partner Rajat Wahi said, “The push on high infrastructure spend across roads, rural, textile parks and Agri sector support across minimum support price will put more money in the hand of consumers to further drive up consumption across categories, and help drive sales of FMCG and retail companies.” In spite of the nationwide lockdown beginning in March-end in 2020, India’s small town and rural markets have witnessed considerable growth in consumption of even discretionary categories such as personal care, coffee, chocolates, and liquor, which is expected only to grow further as the country is opening up gradually to post-pandemic era.
As the industry experts, the FMCG market in India witnessed an expansion of 4.2% the last calendar year, twice the rate as compared to 2019 despite the manufacturing and distribution hurdles in late March and April due to pandemic situation. Also while the growth momentum is expected to escalate, effective execution of the measures to the last mile will be crucial too. For details on retail management software, visit our website.