The FMCG aftershocks in a Reliance Retail-Future Group earthquake

Reliance Retail now has the bargaining power to challenge India’s biggest FMCG firms—HUL, ITC, Nestle—on both margins and market share. FMCG firms won’t give in quietly, but RIL’s dominance over both the organised and unorganised grocery retail sectors will make it a difficult map to navigate

The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in India is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. There are thousands of brands across dozens of segments. When put together, though, they paint a picture of just a handful of companies pulling all the strings.

Take homegrown Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). With a market capitalisation of $67 billion, it is India’s largest FMCG company. Many of its products—like Bru or Surf Excel—are so deeply embedded