FMCG sales slump in Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra saw the biggest fall in sales of fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) last month, followed by Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, data from retail intelligence platform Bizom showed.

The company attributed the decline to shopkeepers in these states returning to their hometowns during the festive season, and excess rainfall in the preceding months damaging crops and causing losses.

Overall, FMCG sales in November fell 14.4% from the previous month, according to Bizom data tracking sales at 7.5 million retail stores. However, sales were up 10.4% from November 2020. In Maharashtra, FMCG sales fell by over a third from October, while it was 33% in Tamil Nadu and 27.2% in Madhya Pradesh.

“During Diwali, a number of migrant small shop owners and workers visit their families back home impacting sales in the short term. During the monsoon season too, we saw many cases of farmers in big states such as Maharashtra being impacted due to kharif crop damage. Post monsoon, too, we’re seeing excessive rainfall across the country, which could cause trouble for rabi crop harvest and impact incomes,” Akshay D’Souza, chief marketing officer at Bizom said.

Six cities in Maharashtra, and two each in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, were among the 10 cities that reported the slowest pace of growth for FMCGs across India. The six cities in Maharashtra included Kolhapur, Solapur, Aurangabad, Aloka, Pune, and Nashik.

India has reported excessive rainfall since the beginning of October, leading to crop damage in various regions.