Compare · groceries

Did people buy more things — or just spend more rupees?

Official household spending rose 7.1%. Grocery packets sold rose 0.9%. Vehicle units rose about 20–28%. Bank credit is running at 18.3%. This page is those three counts, in charts.

Official spending

7.1%

Households, Apr–Jun · MoSPI

Spending in rupees, after prices.

Grocery packets

0.9%

Volume, Jan–Mar · NielsenIQ

Packets sold, not rupees.

Vehicles sold

+26%

Units, July · FADA

Bikes and cars, units retailed.

NielsenIQ

FMCG value vs volume

Bars are packets. The line is rupees. When they move apart, price or pack size is doing part of the work.

JFM 25 vol 5.1% · val 11.0% · mix 5.9%
NIQ. Volume 5.1, price/mix 5.6, value 11.
OND 25 vol 2.6% · val 7.8% · mix 5.2%
NIQ. Volume is the rural 2.9 / urban 2.3 blend.
JFM 26 vol 0.9% · val 3.0% · mix 2.1%
NIQ. Volume 0.9, value 3.0. Price and pack size make up the rest.

Dashed line is household spending 7.1%

Does the industry confirm the accounts?

Anything left of the dash is weaker than reported consumption. Anything right is doing the spending — or the borrowing.

Units, not rupees

The volume tape

Industry	What is counted	Print	vs spending	As of
FMCGValue was 3.0% — price and pack size, not more soap.	Packets / tonnes	+0.9%YoY	Below spending	JFM 2026 · NIQNielsenIQ
FMCG (prior)Rural 2.9, urban 2.3.	Packets, blended	+2.6%YoY	Below spending	OND 2025 · NIQNielsenIQ
Two-wheelers18.18 lakh units.	Units retailed	+28.3%YoY	Above spending	Jul 2026 · FADAFADA
Passenger vehicles4.17 lakh units, first 4-lakh July.	Units retailed	+19.1%YoY	Above spending	Jul 2026 · FADAFADA
All auto retail25.91 lakh units.	Units retailed	+25.9%YoY	Above spending	Jul 2026 · FADAFADA
Aviation23.5 million seats. Capacity, not passengers.	Seats offered	-1.5%YoY	Below spending	Aug 2026 · OAGOAG
Decorative paintUnits of paint. Dated print.	Volume	+11.0%YoY	Above spending	Q2 FY26 · Asian PaintsCompany / Reuters

Rural rupees are not rural tonnes

Geography of the aisle

OND 25 · NIQ

Rural volume

+2.9%

Eighth straight quarter ahead of urban; the gap narrowed.

OND 25 · NIQ

Urban volume

+2.3%

Metro recovery and e-commerce. Not a surge.

OND 25 · NIQ

Home & personal care volume

+1.9%

More exposed to the GST 2.0 rate change.

OND 25 · NIQ

OTC volume

+3.2%

Faster than food and home care in that quarter.

AMJ 26 · Bizom

Rural value

+9.0%

Rupees, not packets.

AMJ 26 · Bizom

Urban value

+2.3%

Rupees. Do not read as volume.

Six ways the two counts can differ

How to read rupees vs packets

01
Spending in rupees is not packets sold
The 7.1% is household spending after prices. It includes services, housing (including an estimated rent), and mix. A family can spend more without buying more biscuits.
02
Value and volume are reported separately
NielsenIQ, Jan–Mar 2026: value +3.0%, volume +0.9%. Price and pack size explain the rest of the rupee number.
03
Rural ‘9%’ is rupees, not tonnes
Apr–Jun rural grocery growth of 9% is Bizom sales value. Urban value was 2.3%. Neither figure is packets.
04
Vehicles and groceries can move differently
Two-wheelers +28%, cars +19%, bank credit +18.3%. Unit sales of vehicles and packets of soap are not the same household decision.
05
GDP has more than consumption in it
Apr–Jun: investment +11.9%, exports +12%, household spending +7.1%. The 7.8% growth print is the average of those, not groceries alone.
06
GST rate changes moved the grocery numbers
Oct–Dec 2025 grocery value slowed to 7.8% on a high festive base and the GST 2.0 change. Home and personal care volume was 1.9%.

Market-implied

Kitchen names vs showroom names

Not a forecast. A tape check: if staples are sleepy and autos are bid, the split is in the price as well as the statistics.

HUL

Aisle

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ITC

Aisle

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Nestlé India

Aisle

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Maruti

Showroom

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M&M

Showroom

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Titan

Showroom

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