Nifty FMCG P/E at 30.4: the lowest since 2021

The number

Nifty FMCG closed at 43,789.85 on 1 October 2026, at a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.37. Its price-to-book ratio was 7.27 and its dividend yield 1.08%.

These are NSE's published end-of-day figures; the daily series is on the Nifty FMCG valuation page. In April the P/E was 34.01, which was then near the lowest since 2021. It has since fallen further.

Against its own record

All comparisons start on 31 March 2021, when NSE moved to consolidated earnings: 1,359 sessions.

• P/E: no session in the period closed lower, so 1 October is the cheapest day of the 1,359. The high was 52.36 on 30 September 2024.
• P/B: also the lowest of the 1,359 sessions, against a median of 10.57.
• Dividend yield: this one points the other way. The yield was higher than 1.08% on 1,272 sessions, so only about one session in sixteen offered less. The yield is not at its high even though the price is far below its peak.

The slide in numbers

• Over the year the index is down 20.5% and the P/E down 25.5%. Dividing one by the other, the earnings behind the index are up about 6.6%.
• Since the end of 2025 the index has lost 21.1%.
• Its record close was 66,305.20 on 23 September 2024. It is now 34.0% below that.

Since 13 April, the date of our April post, the index is 7.9% lower and the implied earnings about 3.1% higher. Implied earnings are higher than in April; the price is lower.

Against the Nifty 50

FMCG has always carried a premium. The question is how large.

On 1 October 2026 its P/E was 1.58 times the Nifty 50's 19.19.

• Since March 2021 the multiple has ranged from 1.27 to 2.20, with a median of 1.90.
• A year ago it was 1.86 (40.74 against 21.96). On 30 September 2024, the day of the P/E high, it was 2.16 (52.36 against 24.25).

Part of the fall in the FMCG ratio is therefore a fall in the sector's own multiple, and part is that the broad market's P/E has come down too, to 19.19 from 21.96 a year ago.

What this does not tell you

It is not a buy signal. A record-low P/E for a five-year window says the index is cheaper than on any day in that window. It does not say the multiple cannot fall further, and it says nothing about the next twelve months.

The window is short. It is five and a half years and contains one peak, in September 2024. A longer record might hold cheaper readings.

Earnings are derived. The "earnings behind the index" figures divide the close by NSE's P/E. They also move when the basket changes at NSE's twice-yearly rebalancing.

It is not your fund. A consumption or FMCG fund holds its own selection, at its own weights.

Where to go from here

The Nifty FMCG valuation page has the daily history. To see how funds with a consumption tilt have done, read consumption fund returns. The guide on consumption and FMCG funds explains what they hold, and how to read an index P/E ratio covers the arithmetic.