India’s shoppers have been unusually quiet. For the past 18 months, high food inflation, weak rural wages, and an identity crisis in the FMCG aisle left consumption sputtering. Value retail slowed, and bellwether names such as Hindustan Unilever and Dabur began to look less like growth dynamos and more like expensive nostalgia.But in 2025-26, the sector’s pulse is picking up. UBS Securities expects a 13% rebound in earnings in the fiscal year, led by falling input costs and potential income stimuli like the Eighth Pay Commission. There is also expectation that the cuts in personal income tax rate will aid consumer demand.
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