Nestlé India's consumer goods market 'stabilising'

The packaged goods industry is stabilising after a period of soft demand, said Suresh Narayanan, Nestlé India's outgoing chairman and managing director, on Thursday.

- Suneera Tandon

While addressing shareholders at the company's 66th annual general meeting (AGM), Narayanan noted that high food inflation had negatively impacted volumes for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers.

"There has been an overall slowdown in the consumer goods space because of food inflation, evolution of real incomes, unemployment and various other global maladies that have also affected us. Happy to report that things are stabilizing; food inflation clearly impacted our business," he said.

He acknowledged that commodity inflation has affected the company's volume-led growth, but expects gradual improvement.

Commodities like coffee and cocoa are at elevated levels, at decadal highs, and that clearly puts enormous pressure on managing both penetration-led growth and the company's bottom line.