Why India’s FMCG giants are increasing ad budgets during uncertainty

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Sunday urged Indians to curb fuel consumption and discretionary spending amid mounting economic uncertainty linked to the Iran war, some of India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies were signaling something very different to investors: Their advertising plans are holding firm.

India’s consumer goods giants continued to increase advertising and promotional spending in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, which ended March 31, despite persistent input-cost pressures and growing global volatility.

Hindustan Unilever Limited increased advertising and promotion spending 6% year on year to Rs 1,509 crore (about $175 million). Marico raised ad and sales promotion expenditure 5% to Rs 320 crore (roughly $37 million), adding that 55% of its core ad spend now flows into digital channels. Nestlé India said advertising spending rose more than 50% as it pursued volume growth, while Dabur increased ad and publicity expenditure 13.7% to Rs 149.1 crore (around $17 million).

While brands contacted by The Current declined to comment on geopolitical-related strategy, one senior FMCG marketer summed up the mood, noting that FMCG spending does not fluctuate as much as Brent crude prices.

That does not mean brands are behaving as though nothing has changed. Instead, marketers and media strategists say the shift is happening more in tone, targeting and channel allocation than in outright spending cuts.

“In periods of geopolitical or economic uncertainty, large FMCG brands rarely disappear from public view,” said Shubhranshu Singh, marketing leader and former global chief marketing officer at Royal Enfield and Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles. “If at all, what usually changes is the tone, not the visibility.”

Singh added that brands tend to become more cautious around messaging that feels “celebratory, extravagant or tone-deaf” during uncertain periods, while leaning harder into “consistency, trust and mental availability because uncertainty is precisely when market share can shift.”

“There’s a bit of both happening,” said Gopa Menon, chief operating officer and co-founder of TheBlurr. “Some categories are definitely getting more conservative with big brand-building commitments, particularly where consumer sentiment feels softer. But the overall spend isn’t going for a pause, it’s being recalibrated and restructured.”

Menon added that outcome-linked media buys are increasingly being prioritized, helping keep aggregate advertising numbers relatively stable “even if the underlying confidence is more fragile than it appears on paper.”

For India’s biggest consumer brands, the logic appears simple: Uncertainty may demand caution, but disappearing from public view carries its own risks. “Silence during volatility often weakens salience,” Singh pointed out.