MNCs, national players lose out in FMCG sector: ACNielsen

Nisha Das
17 April 2003

According to a survey of the major FMCG players in India, the market shares of the top FMCG companies in terms of turnover have declined by 9 per cent. The only listed company to make it to the growth chart is Marico, followed by Cadbury India.

"In the last two years three things have emerged: 1) foods as a business is growing and an opportunity for branding is there; 2) there has been a continued pressure on the top players of the market with new players coming in; and 3) the emergence of new entrepreneurs in categories like edible oils and packaged foods," says Sujit Das Munshi, vice-president, ACNielsen ORG-Marg.

According to Das Munshi, small and regional players have advantages of cost structures over the large FMCG players due to low overheads. "Their other advantage is they don't need the entire gamut of an advertising and corporate image which is imperative in the case of an MNC or a national player."

According to the survey, along with big advertisers, small local players have been heavily advertising for over a year now. These firms have now grown to become sizeable national brands and were the top companies in the sector, in 2002.

According to the survey, the top consumer goods company in 2002 was the oil seed and refined food company Parakh Foods with a 32-per cent growth. Haldiram was next, with a growth of 26 per cent followed by Anchor Health third, with 21.4 per cent. In fourth place was Dhara Foods and Kanpur Detergents with a 14.5-per cent growth. It was followed by Perfetti India, CavinKare and Marico Industries and rounding off the list were Godrej Sara Lee and Cadbury India.

"This is now becoming a fight of equals and the local guys have an advantage over the MNCs and the national players in terms of the distribution structure and price points and value offerings," says Das Munshi.