Demand remains soft, Budget needs to leave more money in hands ofconsumers: Pidilite MD Designate

New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Overall demand continues to remain soft as inflation of food, educational and telecom expenses put pressure on disposable income of the average Indian, and steps to leave more money in their hands in the upcoming Budget will be a welcome move, Pidilite Industries Ltd Managing Director Designate, Sudhanshu Vats said on Thursday.

Addressing a virtual conference call, he said,”We are beginning to see a little bit of uptick in rural (markets) but we’ve got to see the same coming up all across.”

“When it comes to overall demand, it continues to remain soft,” Vats said when asked about the demand scenario, adding this has been continuing from previous quarters.

On reasons for the softness in demand, Vats said for a vast majority of Indians a variety of inflation have impacted their disposable income.

“There is food inflation, there is educational expenses inflation…telecom packages, a little bit of the prices have gone up. So I think that has put pressure on the disposable income of the average Indian,” he said.

Vats further said,”The wage growth has not kept pace with the inflation of their daily basket, which has a large component of some of these things, which is food, education, and now telecom.”

Asked if any interventions are needed from the government in the upcoming Budget to address the softness in demand, he said,”We are very hopeful that the finance minister, through actions in the Budget, will leave more income, or leave more disposable income in the hands of Indian consumers. I think that will be a very welcome move. That’s important.”

On whether the demand slump will prolong if measures from the government are not forthcoming in the Budget, Vats said in the near term it will be for company to company and industry to industry to navigate ‘few bumps or speed breakers’.

“Some of these patterns will emerge and will change, but we remain very optimistic in the medium to long term, as far as India is concerned. Arguably, we at Pidilite are navigating the immediate part as well, reasonably successfully,” Vats asserted.

He further said,”From a medium to long term, we stay very, very bullish on India. The next couple of decades belong to our country,” he noted.

In the third quarter ended December 31, 2024 Pidilite Industries, a leading manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and construction chemicals, reported net sales of ₹3,357 crore, up 9 per cent over the same quarter last year and a profit after tax of ₹557 crore, a year-on-year growth of 9 per cent.