Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Indian FMCG industry grow by 16 pc in 2007-08: FICCI

Indian FMCG industry, valued at Rs 746.5 billion in 2006-07, has grew by 16 per cent in 2007-08, compared to 14.5 per cent growth in the previous fiscal, a survey by industry body Ficci said.

The high growth in the sector is backed by the rising demand, fiscal incentives provided by the government like tax exemptions in some states and improved performance by leading companies, the chamber said in a statement.

Driving the growth of the sector, the 'deodorant' segment of the industry has achieved the highest growth of 40 per cent followed by hair dye at 30 per cent and chemical segments including cleaner and repellents at 23 per cent, the survey pointed out.

Although, there has been some deceleration in the soap and toiletries segment, it said.

The industry has been able to achieve growth despite of rising prices, increase in costs of various inputs such as petroleum products and packaging materials, the chamber said.

According to the study done by Indian market research bureau, the industry has witnessed launch of over 251 new products including 223 variants of existing products during the first 10 months of 2007, compared to 191 products including 173 variants in the same period in 2006.

The on-going retail boom in the country has forced the FMCG companies to re-work strategies and making arrangements with retail majors for sales promotion, the chamber said.

( Source: indiabiznews )

MORE THAN HALF OF INDIAN CONSUMERS LOOK AT NUTRITION LABELS ON FOOD PACKAGING

71 percent Indians say they take notice of packaged goods labels containing nutritional information compared to two years ago but only 59 percent Indians mostly understand the nutritional panels/ labels that they read on the food packaging, according to findings from a recent internet survey on Food Labelling and Nutrition conducted in 51 countries by The Nielsen Company.

The percentage of people who check nutritional information on packaging has increased from 49 percent to 59 percent in the last two years. With 59 percent, India also tops Asia Pacific in its understanding of nutritional labels. North Americans lead the race in understanding food labeling. 67 percent of North American consumers claim to mostly understand food labels.

“Indians were never as busy before, long work hours, working mothers, long commute, nuclear family, has left very little time in their hands for household chores like cooking. Quite naturally, packaged products are making entry in a big way in the Indian kitchen. However, people are not ready to risk their well being and are favouring available nutritional packaged food, this surely indicates an opportunity for savvy food manufacturers to use nutritional labelling as a powerful marketing tool,” said Chandana Banerji, Director, Client Solutions, The Nielsen Company.

For further reading, please follow the link...

(Source: ACNielsen )