Rural recovery, price cuts to drive volume gains for consumer companies

It's 'rule Britannia' for brokerages; analysts divided on extent of margin gains

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) makers saw marginal downgrades after the October-December quarter performance, given poor volume performance and pressures on margins. Volume growth for most companies saw a decline or was in the low single digits.

Aggregate revenue growth of 9-11 per was largely on account price hikes.

Aggregate gross margins, according to IIFL Research, too, contracted for the thirteenth straight quarter due to higher raw material inflation.

One of the key factors holding back volumes has been weak rural demand. The rural segment, which accounts for 40 per cent of the FMCG sector volumes, has underperformed the urban market