For decades, the Indian FMCG narrative has been dominated by a singular, overarching obsession: “Premiumization.” The logic, preached in boardrooms from Mumbai to New York, is seductive. As India’s GDP grows and the middle class expands, consumers will inevitably trade up. They will move from loose tea to packaged tea, from unbranded snacks to premium labels, and from local sodas to global colas. The assumption is that the “bottom of the pyramid” is merely a waiting room—a transient state consumers are eager to escape.
But this narrative misses a fundamental truth about the Indian market. It confuses price with value.
While urban India discusses quick commerce and gourmet variances, a quiet revolution is happening in the dusty taluks of Tamil Nadu, the village squares of Odisha, and the roadside stalls of Andhra Pradesh. Here, the growth engine isn’t the ₹50 premium pack; it is the Rs. 10 “magic price point.” The next wave of FMCG disruption in India will not come from convincing the top 10% to spend more, but from empowering the bottom 60% to consume with dignity.
The Rs. 5 – Rs. 10 segment is not a “low-end” strategy. It is the highest volume, highest potential, and ironically, the most defensible fortress in the Indian consumer story—if you know how to build it.
The “Empty” Shelf at Rs. 10
To understand the opportunity, one must first look at the vacuum created by traditional FMCG giants. For years, multinational corporations (MNCs) used the Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 price points (Low Unit Packs or LUPs) primarily as sampling tools. Their goal was penetration: get the consumer hooked on the small pack, then upsell them to the profitable Rs. 40 or Rs. 90 bottle.
However, post-COVID inflation and rising input costs exposed the fragility of this model. When sugar, PET resin, and freight costs spiked, the margins on a Rs. 10 SKU for a centralized MNC evaporated. Their response was predictable: “Shrinkflation” (reducing 200ml to 150ml) or exiting the price point entirely to push Rs. 20 SKUs.
This retreat created a massive void. The daily wage earner—the construction worker, the auto driver, the farm laborer—did not suddenly start earning double because resin prices went up. Their disposable income for a quick refreshment remained locked at Rs. 10. When MNCs vacated this space or offered diminished value (less quantity), they didn’t just lose sales; they lost relevance.
This is where the new battleground lies. The brand that can engineer a profitable, full-quantity, high-quality product at ₹10 doesn’t just win a customer; they win an entire demographic that has been abandoned by the giants.
Democratizing Aspiration: The “Dignity” of the Bottle
There is a deep psychological nuance to the rural consumer that is often overlooked. In the past, affordable refreshment meant unhygienic, loose beverages sold in plastic pouches or glass tumblers washed in questionable water.
For a rural consumer, buying a sealed, branded PET bottle of Plunge or Gullp is not just a transaction of thirst; it is a transaction of dignity. Holding a sparkling, well-packaged drink that looks and feels like a “city product” offers a sense of social elevation. It signals, “I am consuming a safe, high-quality product, just like someone in a metro.”
This is the concept of “Democratizing Aspiration.” The rural consumer is value-conscious, not quality-blind. They demand the same hygiene standards (ISO certifications, virgin plastics) as an urban consumer, but their wallet size is rigid. The opportunity for FMCG brands is to bridge this gap—to strip away the “fat” of corporate overheads and deliver premium value at a micro-price.
Frugal Innovation: Cracking the Unit Economics
The skeptic will ask: “But how do you make money selling a 200ml drink for Rs. 10 when global giants can’t?”
The answer lies in rewriting the operational playbook. The traditional FMCG model is built on “Centralized Manufacturing + Heavy Logistics + Massive Ad Spend.” A factory in one state produces goods that travel 800 kilometers to reach a consumer. In the beverage industry, where you are essentially shipping water, freight kills the margin.
To succeed at Rs. 10, you must invert this model. The future belongs to “Hub-and-Spoke Manufacturing.”
At TABP, we realized that to protect the Rs. 10 price, we had to eliminate long-haul logistics. We decentralized production, setting up compact, efficient manufacturing units closer to the consumption clusters. We don’t ship bottles across India; we manufacture where the thirst is. This slashes freight costs, the savings from which are poured back into the product, allowing us to offer a full 200ml serving when competitors are cutting down to 160ml.
Furthermore, the “Push vs. Pull” marketing equation must be re-evaluated. MNCs spend crores on celebrity endorsements to create “Pull.” But in rural markets, the retailer is the kingmaker. If a daily wage earner asks for a “Jeera Soda,” the shopkeeper decides which brand to hand over. By redirecting marketing dollars into better retailer margins (Trade Push), we align the shopkeeper’s incentives with our growth. We don’t buy billboards; we buy shelf space through profitability for our partners.
The Flavor of Bharat: Beyond the “Cola” Hegemony
Another critical driver for the Rs. 10 segment is the localization of taste. For too long, “beverages” in India meant Cola, Orange, or Clear Lemon—flavors standardized in Atlanta or London. But Bharat’s palate is complex, savory, and deeply regional.
The rural consumer craves the “kick” of spice and salt, not just sugar. This is why ethnic flavors like Jeera (Cumin), Lemon Salt, and Paneer Soda (Rose essence) are seeing explosive growth. These are not new inventions; they are centuries-old preferences that the organized market ignored.
The Rs. 10 segment allows for rapid experimentation with these hyper-local tastes. A consumer might hesitate to spend Rs. 50 to try a new “Green Lemon” flavor, but at Rs. 10, the risk barrier is non-existent. It encourages trial and variety seeking. The brands that win in the next decade will be the ones that treat regional flavors not as “niche” offerings, but as mainstream pillars. We are seeing Plunge Jeera outperform standard colas in specific districts because it serves a dual purpose: refreshment plus digestion. It’s a functional beverage at the price of a commodity.
The “Value” Runway
Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, the macroeconomic indicators are clear. Food inflation is a reality, and rural wage growth is often sluggish. This widens the gap between the “India” that shops on quick-commerce apps and the “Bharat” that shops at the Kirana store.
The Rs. 5 – Rs. 10 price segment is the bridge between these two worlds. It is recession-proof. In times of economic stress, consumers down-trade from large packs to small packs, increasing the velocity of LUPs. In times of prosperity, the sheer volume of consumption in this segment creates massive scale.
For investors and industry observers, it is time to stop viewing the ₹10 price point as a “challenge” to be solved by raising prices. It is, instead, an “asset” to be leveraged by raising efficiency.
India’s consumption story is not just about the top 50 million consumers upgrading to premium goods. It is about the 800 million consumers in the middle and bottom expecting better quality for the hard-earned coins in their pockets. The companies that respect that coin, and the dignity of the hand that holds it, will build the empires of tomorrow.
The next FMCG unicorn won’t be built on a Rs. 100 product. It will be built on a billion Rs. 10 transactions.
