MAM
FMCGs fight inflation through promos, pack sizes & price discounts: Nielsen
MUMBAI: Marketers’ strategy to deal with inflation through promos, pack sizes and price discounts has kept the consumer’s spending on fast moving consumer goods stimulated, according to Nielsen.
The organised FMCG market’s resultant value growth of 13 per cent is attributed to this and has outpaced the underlying volume growth of 8.2 per cent. This indicates a steady and stable demand for branded, packaged fast moving goods.
Impact on branded, packaged foods – Essentials vs Impulse
According to Nielsen, rising commodity prices have impacted food categories much more than non-food categories. This is evident from the fact that food categories have grown faster in value terms while volume growth has been relatively slower. In non-food categories however, both value and volume growth has moved in lockstep at around eight per cent over the last year.
The report also said that within Foods, two types of categories were more affected by price increases than others. Non-essential categories like jam/jellies and squash/cordials saw high value but low volume growth and a slowdown in consumption during 2010 due to steady price
increases. They were accompanied by milk based categories like butter/margarine and milk powder which saw manufacturers step up prices to protect margins against rising input costs.
These early signs indicate that if inflationary pressures don’t ease, discretionary spending on these categories is likely to shrink further.
Surprisingly, even essential milk-based categories like baby cereals and infant formula saw volumes stagnate as prices gained momentum. an increased reliance on solid foods and an earlier shift to liquid milk from specially formulated milk/cereals are typical substitutes to combat inflationary pressures.
Other essential categories were not entirely immune to inflation either, says the global information and measurement company. Categories like packaged atta (wheat flour) and packaged rice etc. also experienced sluggish volume growth as consumers temporarily resorted to unbranded alternatives.
Impulse takes on inflation
Small treats continued to be important to the Indian consumer at a time when inflation cut into bigger items of discretionary expenditure like eating out, out of home entertainment etc. Impulse categories like biscuits, namkeens (salty snacks), and chocolates continued to attract consumer purchases.
Manufacturer initiatives for these categories drove growth via small packs (small per transaction cost), product innovations (baked alternatives, new consumption occasions, and attractive promotions) and increased availability. This bodes well at a time when economic optimism and inflationary pressures appear to be colliding.
Non–food categories hold their ground: innovation holds the key to combating inflation
Also, amongst the top non-food categories like washing powder, shampoo, and toilet soap there seems to be no evidence of inflation’s adverse affect as robust topline growth continued unabated, according to Nielsen.
The company says that these items have long become a part of the ‘must-buys’ in the consumer basket and remained unaffected overall with possible selective purchase of more cost-effective branded alternatives as well as greater responsiveness to promo offers. The lead players in these categories have also stepped up price activation by using value promotions and re-launching at new price points.
Marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement company also said that lifestyle/personal grooming categories like hair conditioners, hair dyes, hair remover, liquid soap etc. don’t seem to have been as affected by inflation. Like impulse foods, these too serve as a cost-effective indulgence. Baby Diapers and Sanitary Napkins too stayed unaffected with help from the increased availability of small pack sizes and cheaper brand variants for consumers unwilling to compromise their health and well-being.
Aesthetic expenditure like nail enamel, lipsticks etc. slowed down, indicating a temporary adjustment in the purchase basket to accommodate items that have witnessed stronger price growth.
2011 is set to see a surge in the number of new launches and the brands that innovate in terms of price, pack size and promotional efficacy will garner a greater share of the growth opportunity that India’s consumer markets present, said Nielsen.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
