After a turbulent 2025 marked by GST disruptions and uneven demand, India’s FMCG industry has entered 2026 with renewed confidence. Strong macro fundamentals, coupled with improving demand momentum in recent months, are expected to drive a 5% increase in household consumption of fast-moving consumer goods in the early part of the year, according to a new study.
The research, conducted by Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar), estimates annualised FMCG growth through October at 4.2%, compared with 4.9% a year earlier—reflecting a slightly moderated pace of expansion even as sentiment strengthens. Policy tailwinds including tax reliefs, GST reforms and benign commodity prices are expected to support volume growth, improve margins and revive urban demand, positioning consumption once again as a critical growth engine. The improvement in margins is also beginning to free up headroom for advertising spends, long regarded as the lifeblood of FMCG growth.
“The sector is expected to raise ad spends by 10% in Q3 and Q4 year-on-year, driven by easing inflation and post-GST stabilisation,” industry executives told e4m.
Already the country’s largest advertising category, FMCG had clocked an estimated Rs 32,000 crore in spending in 2024, contributing nearly one-third of India’s digital advertising revenues and adding around Rs 15,000 crore to the digital ad economy.
e4m had earlier reported that the GST rationalisation introduced last year on September 22 — touted as a major simplification move by the Narendra Modi government — had little impact on India’s advertising industry.
FMCG companies, which are major advertisers, could not pass on GST benefits immediately due to a disruption in packaging, inventory, and distribution cycles. Brands avoided triggering pricing confusion mid-cycle. That’s why FMCG ad spends didn’t spike much post-GST.
Operational stability has now returned. Companies including Dabur, Emami, Parle Products, Godrej Consumer Products and AWL Agri Business are rebuilding stock in anticipation of stronger sales in the coming quarters. However, geopolitical uncertainties—ranging from US–India trade tensions to ongoing global conflicts across various regions such as Europe, Latin America and Middle East—pose a potential drag on economic momentum, which may test the resilience of advertising growth expectations.
Against this backdrop, FMCG marketers are approaching 2026 with optimism tempered by prudence, rethinking how—and where—incremental ad spends should be deployed.
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Focus on sports, culture & entertainment platforms
For large, legacy FMCG brands, scale and cultural relevance remain irreplaceable, particularly in a market witnessing intensifying category-level competition. Sports and mass entertainment platforms are regaining prominence as trusted vehicles for national reach.
Mayank Shah, Vice President, Parle Products, says mass platforms continue to play a critical role in how brands like Parle build salience across India, even amid digital adds precision. “This year, our marketing strategy will rest on a few core pillars. Scale and cultural relevance will remain critical for a brand like Parle. Platforms such as sports and mass entertainment allow us to connect with consumers across the country. Alongside this, digital will help us be more targeted and efficient,” Shah told e4m.
However, the industry’s playbook has evolved beyond simply buying reach. Brands are increasingly layering emotion, participation and storytelling over large platforms to deepen engagement, especially as generational shifts reshape audience behaviour.
At Britannia, this has translated into campaigns that blend culture, technology and consumer involvement. Siddharth Gupta, General Manager – Marketing, Britannia, said, “At Britannia, we have always believed in staying culturally rooted while evolving with changing consumer behaviour. The year was about building relevance by involving consumers, tapping into culture, and using technology in a way that felt natural.”
He adds that this thinking increasingly informs campaign architecture. “Whether it was storytelling through packaging, co-creating experiences, or using tools like AI and AR to make engagement more immersive, the focus was on building curated and immersive experiences rooted in authenticity.”
For younger and challenger brands, community-building and cultural participation are emerging as strategic differentiators. Satyajit Hange, Co-founder, Two Brothers Organic Farms, says rising acquisition costs are compelling brands to strike a sharper balance between trust-building and performance.
“In 2026, brands will need to be more intentional about balancing brand-building with performance. Brands that blend trust-building with precision-led digital efforts will lead,” Hange said. “Our 2026 strategy centres on community, content, and cultural partnerships. Building on this, we plan to scale our offline presence, invest in more experiential formats, and create content that our audience genuinely wants to watch,” Hange adds.
Data, Personalisation and Community
As advertising intensity rises in step with GDP growth, the next phase of FMCG marketing will be shaped by how intelligently brands deploy data—responsibly, creatively and meaningfully.
Rajiv Dubey, Vice President, Dabur India, believes regulatory evolution will catalyse more disciplined practices across the ecosystem. For Dabur, this translates into marrying personalisation with brand heritage. Dubey shares, “With stronger GDP growth in H1 2026, advertising intensity will catch up soon. For Dabur, 2026 will be led by personalisation at scale. Timeless brands like Dabur will be built with modern tools.”
At Emami, data-led personalisation is viewed as an enabler rather than a replacement for instinctive brand thinking. Kaushik Vedula, Vice President – Marketing, Consumer Care Business, Emami, said: “Platforms serve as vehicles to contextualize our communication, but they do not define our strategy. The core pillars of our marketing strategy in 2026 will focus on data-led personalization, content partnership and newer digital ecosystems.”
From TV-First to Consumer-First
While sports and mass entertainment are reclaiming budget share, FMCG marketers are unequivocal that media planning is no longer anchored to a TV-first worldview. Instead, planning is increasingly shaped around consumer behaviour—how audiences move fluidly across screens, platforms and physical environments.
Gupta calls this a structural shift, “The marketing landscape will also continue to remain dynamic, with the shift from a TV-first approach to a consumer-first one gaining further momentum. Media mixes will increasingly be shaped by how people actually consume content today.”
This consumer-first lens is accelerating “phygital” engagement, where digital discovery drives offline participation, enabling brands to build communities rather than episodic reach.
At Nestlé, the conversation is equally grounded in performance discipline. Varun Sethuraman, Business Head – Breakfast Cereals, Nestlé South Asia, notes: “ROI was and will remain key, especially with greater competition and increase in digital spends. With social media and social commerce accelerating, performance-led investments will start dictating a lot of choices.”
Yet, he cautions against losing sight of brand fundamentals: “The sheer number of competitive choices across categories will force us to look at brand identity and smashables to be strengthened. There is no 1 magic pill, we need to engage where the consumer lives, interacts and shops.”