India Stock Market Highlights Today: ONGC followed by Tata Steel, L&T, Sun Pharma, M&M, ICICI Bank and NTPC were among the top gainers in the Sensex pack

Nielsen's FMCG snapshot for July to September shows an 11 times higher growth in packaged staples consumption in rural markets over the metros

Tata Consumer Products Ltd is aiming to double its direct reach in the next 12 months as a response to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, said the company's MD and CEO Sunil D'Souza

The FMCG sector includes non-durable household goods such as packaged food, beverages, toiletries and other consumables that are sold at a relatively low cost

Budget 2020: Foremost demand of investors is a rollback of long-term capital gains tax. LTCG tax or long-term capital gains tax was introduced in Union Budget 2018-2019 to bring marginal revenue gain of Rs 20,000 crore in the first year. However, the move backfired as the investor sentiment dwindled

The consumers shopped more frequently but purchased fewer products each time. The study added that the consumers spread their budgets to moderate their finances amid the economic slowdown

Rural India grew by 5% in value terms during the September quarter. This is a steep fall from 20% reported in 2018

These global dairy companies have struggled to get their recipe right in India. But the 1.3 billion strong consumption story never really allowed them to give up on India.

FMCG companies will need to focus much more on their lower unit packs. Rural consumers as well as lower income groups in urban areas are equally aspirational.

According to Google, the company's newly launched digital payment mobile app, Tez, has over 12 million users, and has seen 140 million transactions. The app would soon feature payments for merchants too.

While modern trade (branded retail chains) has been doing better than general trade (the local kirana stores) in urban markets for a while, it was the lacklustre performance of rural markets that hit most FMCGs.

If you thought that all the action in business was concentrated around the e-commerce sector, you could not be more wrong. The unlikely category of milk and dairy products has been seeing some of the most frenetic activity over the past couple of years.

The rural economy is reeling under erratic monsoons and unfriendly government policies. The crisis is so deep that its spillover has made the whole economy anaemic.

In summary, the Budget has sent out the right signals to the investor community about ease of doing business in India, writes Marico Chairman Harsh C Mariwala.

Five corporate bigwigs who have entered electoral politics unveil well-crafted, high-voltage campaigns.

The rapid income expansion in small towns and villages is pushing retailers to tap opportunities away from the big cities.