Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited's investor and analyst call today. Thank you for joining us. Today, we will begin with a presentation by the management of the company on the company's performance, results, strategies, and business outlook. We have received questions submitted by the participants at the time of registration of the call. The management will address the questions received after the presentation. Let me introduce our presenters for today. We will have on the call Mr. V. Kumar, Managing Director of the company, and Ms. Mrinalini Srinivasan, Chief Financial Officer of the company. Please note that all participants are placed on mute and can participate only in the listen mode. Also note that during the course of the call, the presentation and information shared by the management may include forward-looking statements.
This may include words, phrases, numbers that set forth anticipated results based on management's current plans and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in those statements. The company cautions investors that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual events or results may differ materially from those statements. Actual events or results may differ materially because of factors that affect international businesses and global economic conditions, as well as matters specific to the company and the markets it serves. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. With that, I now hand over to Mr. V. Kumar for the management presentation.
Thank you, Flavia. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call today. It's a pleasure to interact with all of you. Today, I shall take you through the work that we've been leading at Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited and what we've accomplished in the last fiscal year. Let me start by taking you through our fiscal year results. Despite a very challenging operating environment, we delivered a balanced growth this year while continuing to drive category growth through innovations that delight our consumers. We reported sales of INR 4,192 crore, up 7% versus a year ago, driven by innovation, trade-up, and driving category growth in the feminine hygiene category. Operational profits, excluding one-time impacts, were at INR 809 crore, up 19% versus a year ago.
These results are a testament to our team's execution of the Integrated Growth Strategy, a strategy that we remain committed to. What is the Integrated Growth Strategy? It includes a portfolio of daily-use products where performance drives brand choice. That's the core around which the company operates: superiority across product, package, brand communication, retail execution, and value. Productivity to fund this superiority, constructive disruption of the entire value chain to future-proof the business, and importantly, all of this enabled by an empowered, agile, and accountable organization. These strategic choices reinforce and build on each other. When executed well, they grow the market, and they create new businesses, which in turn grow our share, sales, household penetration, and profit. Importantly, this strategy is inherently dynamic. It adapts to the changing needs of consumers, customers, and society. It demands that we do not sit still.
P&G people are focused on executing each element of our integrated growth strategy with excellence to delight consumers and win in the marketplace, and importantly, to deliver the level of balanced growth and value creation results you and we expect. Let me take this opportunity to talk more on the focus portfolio of daily-use products for feminine care and personal health care categories, both segments where performance plays a significant role in brand choice. We concentrate our efforts and focus on delivering and increasing the superiority of our offerings at every price tier in which we operate. For our feminine care business, we serve our consumers with products that not just meet their needs in a way they expect, but also offer them superior benefits, which improves their lives. In turn, consumers reinforce their trust in the brand, which truly makes Whisper a market leader.
We've been on a journey of consistently improving and upgrading our propositions to raise the bar on consumer delight across the range and sizes. We've strengthened our portfolio with latest additions like Whisper Period Panties and Whisper Flex Foam with a patented Flex Foam Technology that feels like nothing and protects like nothing else. We've continued to grow the category with this robust portfolio. To illustrate, the feminine care category in India has grown a whopping 100 times in the last 30 years. Similarly, our personal health care portfolio serves consumers with an assortment of products that cater to diverse needs, be it single symptom, multiple symptoms, and even evolved needs that require customized solutions. We now have the trusted care of Vicks available to consumers in various innovative forms: Vicks VapoRub Steam Pods or the Vicks Roll-On. We continue to serve consumers and solve for their needs.
Superiority continues to be the formula and the bedrock to delight consumers and earn and maintain their chosen loyalty. Our commitment to and investment in irresistible superiority through innovation across the five vectors of product, package, brand communication, retail execution, and value continues to be strong. We are leveraging the superiority to delight consumers, grow markets, and our share in these markets. To serve evolving consumer needs, prioritizing leakage and stain protection, and comfort during heavy flow period days, Whisper has recently launched the new Whisper Ultra XL for Heavy Flow. The product has a first-of-its-kind cushion core technology and cotton-like soft top layer that offers up to 100% leak protection along with comfort. With this product, we continue to create value and enhance our portfolio in the feminine hygiene care area. On Vicks, it has helped relieve cold, cough, and flu symptoms for generations of Indians.
We stay committed to build on this legacy by always listening to what our consumers need and incorporating these insights across our product formulations. The new Vicks Roll-On is a fast and on-the-go solution for headaches that often accompany cough and cold symptoms. It leverages a superior product formula containing high-strength Ayurvedic ingredients like Pudina and Kapoor, formulated to meet the needs of our consumers. It is especially designed to provide a swift and effective solution for those unexpected moments when a headache threatens to derail your day, equipped with a rollerball technology and non-greasy formula that allows for on-the-go headache relief. Superior packaging, another important vector, is a critical enabler to create the perfect first moment of truth with consumers to reinforce the delighters as they look at our product.
Let me take an example of the recently introduced Vicks Cough Drops Double Power, a significant upgrade that delivers a more effective and longer-lasting relief from sore throat pains. We have ensured that the packaging is designed to communicate the ingredients as well as the benefits very clearly and help our consumers make the right choice regarding the product that best serves their need. Gen Z consumers today want snackable, relatable content which entertains them while sharing our intended message. Delivering on this genre of entertainment, Whisper has been working with India's leading Gen Z content creators to drive awareness and education for the nuanced jobs to be done, as well as highlighting how our premium and super premium propositions can deliver on these needs. This has resulted in Whisper influencer content being the best performing in the category. Can I have the video, please?
Hello ma'am, come in, come in. Mood swing, let me see your performance this month.
[Foreign language].
Okay, next patient. Sit here. What a poor performance.
[Foreign language].
She fired me.
We spoke about the new Whisper Ultra product for heavy flow. On communication, the challenge was to open consumers' minds to a new standard of period protection with Whisper Ultra and Bindazzz Nights pads, where she doesn't have to worry about leaks even during heavy flow. The communication conveys in a bold and distinctive yet very relatable and authentic way, delivering on our campaign message of real periods, real solutions, and the result? A campaign that not only celebrated real periods but also provided real solutions, earning the love of consumers and driving relevance. Can I have the video, please?
Why Whisper Ultra's heavy flow protection range?
Because heavy flow rushes as I go. [Foreign language]. it's awful. But with Whisper, 3x protection. [Foreign language] Active days, Bindazzz nights. Whisper, real periods, real solutions.
A big opportunity for us to continue driving category growth is to create consumer awareness about the evolving needs and therefore the potential to evolve product usage. Whisper found a unique way to do this by appealing to moms via their most loved TV serial character and fellow mom. We spotlighted to mothers their daughters' changing lifestyle, which requires more than a cloth on her period days, while establishing the superiority of Whisper Choice. Can we have the video, please?
[Foreign langauge].
Coming to our Vicks franchise, inspired by the countless nights parents spend comforting their children with cough and cold, we created a video to showcase how Vicks VapoRub can provide relief from six common symptoms. By alleviating these disturbances, Vicks helps ensure restful sleep, not just for the children, but for parents as well. Let's play the video to understand this a little better.
[Foreign langauge].
To better serve consumers in the digital age, we've accelerated our engagement on all channels, including e-commerce, that continues to grow in salience as consumer habits evolve. Maintaining availability, consistent messages regarding our offerings, and the faith instilled by fellow users reinforces brand choice with consumers' growth on these platforms to ensure consistent and personalized availability of products to our consumers' bases, their preferences and needs. Success in our highly competitive industry also requires agility that comes with a mindset of constructive disruption, a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape P&G and the industry for the future. We are focused on leading disruption in a constructive way that delivers better outcomes and creates value for consumers, customers, employees, society, and shareholders. Let me illustrate this using some recent examples. We are leveraging seamless data analytics and automation to optimize a supply chain, resulting in 60% fewer touch points than a few years ago.
We moved to an artificial intelligence machine learning ordering system for our distributors, which is helping us better predict distributor shipments and replenishment. This is advancing us in our journey of Supply 3.0. We are leveraging AI-powered image recognition to automate quality checks, streamlining production, and improving product quality. This innovative approach has enabled speed and effectiveness in our manufacturing process, optimizing operations and helping us ensure our products are manufactured and available for our consumers very swiftly. We've continued to explore relevant touch points where we can engage with consumers when they're entering our categories to educate them and make them aware of our propositions. Whisper has one of the longest legacies with India's biggest single-source menstrual education school program that has reached over 10 crore girls to date.
Armed with the insight about the early onset of periods in girls as young as eight years, we are now ensuring that the program reaches these younger age groups with relevant education material. The strategic need to keep investing in superiority, coupled with an ongoing need to drive balanced top and bottom line growth, including margin expansion, underscores the importance of ongoing productivity. We've developed a very strong productivity muscle over the years. Productivity is now fully embedded in our operating model, and it is embraced in every part of our operations. Specifically, last year, through our productivity interventions, PGHH achieved savings of over INR 113 crores. That is the fuel that allows us to reinvest in superiority across the five vectors and stay ahead of what consumers want. The organization is an integral part of our growth strategy. After all, it is our people who deliver and execute these strategies.
We've designed and continue to refine and strengthen P&G's organization structure so that it enables P&G people to focus on the biggest opportunities for growth: fully empowered, agile, and accountable. With the power of the P&G organization, we've also continued our efforts to balance the need of all our stakeholders. Equality and inclusion is good for our business, broadening our ability to serve more consumers and driving market growth. Simply put, it helps us win in the marketplace. It is how we understand and serve billions of increasingly diverse consumers around the world. It is how we develop market-leading brands. It is how we recruit top-notch talent and develop the best organization in the world. It is how we lead our industries and strengthen our communities.
Whisper launched the fifth edition of its long-running Keep Girls in School movement to create awareness around the early onset of periods in girls as young as eight. With this, the brand aims to educate little girls on menstruation and equip their ecosystem, including classmates, parents, and educators, with the right knowledge on menstruation in an engaging way, which helps grow the category and drive a positive impact in the communities. We've also ensured that the conversation is done in formats and ways that are more encouraging and engaging as well. Can I have the video, please?
[Foreign langauge].
Today's Whisper Keep Girls in School program has taught over 100 million school girls about periods and period products. With every pack of Whisper Ultra you buy, you too can help us keep girls in school.
[Foreign langauge].
Coming to Vicks, ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023, Vicks Cough Drops unveiled a campaign with Yuvraj Singh titled Vicks Khol India Bol . This cheer anthem urged Indian fans to cheer loudest during the cricket season. Vicks Cough Drops emerged as a natural fit for cheering aloud, as while cheering, fans could face some throat irritation. So, through the anthem, Vicks not only attempted to make cheering synonymous with a clear throat, but also drove high awareness on its drops in a far-reaching message. Vicks also created a version of this in sign language to ensure no fans feel left behind. Let me show you this version.
Vicks needs sign champions to cheer for India. Are you ready?
[Foreign language].
We continue to positively impact communities we serve and operate in with a flagship CSR program, P&G Shiksha. Now entering its 20th year, Shiksha has continued to support thousands of schools and communities, impacting more than 45 lakh children with access to education and enablers to improve learning outcomes.
Many of our efforts have been recognized externally, which only motivates us to raise the bar and double down on all our efforts to better all our stakeholders. While we should expect the volatile macro dynamics we've been experiencing to continue, our job every day is to continue to put in the hard work that can delight consumers, customers, employees, society, and our shareholders in that context. Our best path forward remains to double down on our dynamic market constructive strategy to deliver balanced top and bottom line growth and value creation. On that note, I'd like to hand over to Mrinalini Srinivasan, our CFO.
Thank you, Kumar. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Mrinalini Srinivasan, and I am the CFO of the company. Kumar spoke about our integrated growth strategy and how it is making a difference to our business results. You also saw our 7% sales and 19% structural profit growth delivered for the past year. At this point, I would like to reflect over the results over a longer period. I will also share with you our view on the recent trends and outlook for the industry. Of course, many of you sent over questions, which I will address during my section. Our integrated growth strategy is working for us. We have delivered consistent high single-digit sales and profit growth over the past 10 years.
Our return on equity has doubled during this period. Our operating profit margin in the past five-year period has increased by 200 basis points behind our strong productivity program across all spend buckets. Another way to look at these results is to look at the numbers in absolute. Our absolute sales and absolute profit have both more than doubled in the last 10 years, demonstrating our ability to consistently deliver superior execution of our strategy. This has, of course, resulted in creating significant shareholder value over this period to a record 30 years of consistent dividend payout. Our share price has tripled, reflecting the consistency of the business results delivery. Before I address some of the questions that you sent over, I want to talk about the external landscape and how we see it evolving.
The Indian economy is thriving. GDP growth is back to its peak of 8.2% for the year that we just closed. Stable revenues from tax and increasing foreign exchange reserves. The financial outlook will continue to attract investments to the country. These are definitely green shoots that we see. Closer home to the FMCG industry, positive trends are finally emerging on consumption, both rural and urban. Inflation has been consistently softening, with July and August closing below RBI's medium-term target of 4%. Monsoon across 75% of the country's districts have been either normal or above normal, and rural demand is expected to keep up with these positive trends. The watch-out, though, is declining rural wages and rising unemployment, both of which should stabilize in the near term with governments' recently announced interventions. Collectively, this should augur well for consumption trends. Looking at the nearer term, we anticipate some challenges to continue.
However, we remain confident in the dynamic and integrated nature of our strategy to help us navigate the difficulties and continue to serve and delight the consumers and drive sustained business results. And now move on to the Q&A session. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share the questions with us in advance. We'll take the questions in groups as there are some common themes in the questions that you have shared with us. Please note that we will refrain from sharing anything that is unpublished, price-sensitive, or confidential to protect the competitive advantage. Let me start off on a positive note. Mr. Ranjith Hingorani sent us a very sweet note. He said, "Congratulations, Kumar Sir, for being appointed the CEO of P&G India. Our greetings and good wishes to you and the team to execute P&G's integrated growth plan."
Thank you much for your compliments and good wishes to the organization. The first set of questions that I want to start with are on the FemCare category. Mr. Ronak Soni from Equirus Securities has asked, "From a competitive standpoint in the feminine hygiene category, how have the unorganized direct-to-consumer and other smaller players evolved in the last four to five years?" Similar questions came in from Mr. Krishnan Sambamoorthy of Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities. Mr. Vishal Punmiya from YES Securities, Mr. Ajay Thakur from Anand Rathi Institutional Equities, Mayur Metani from Mahesh Kumar & Co., and others asked about the competitive landscape on FemCare . We also have questions on the category trends, penetration, share, and other similar aspects from Mr. Mitesh Kandar from Aditya Equity Investments, Kinjal Desai from Nippon India Mutual Fund, Mr. Vicky Punjabi from UTI Mutual Fund, Ronak Soni from Equirus Securities Limited, Mr. Ranjith Hingorani, and others. We are the market leaders in the feminine care category with nearly half the market.
Thirty years ago, the category was about INR 34 crore, and today it stands at a whopping INR 3,400 crore, grown over 100 times. We expect double-digit growth to continue over the next three years for the category. Not surprisingly, penetration levels lag in rural versus urban India. Roughly, the numbers are in the range of about 60% for urban India and below 40% in rural India. Having said that, there is significant opportunity even in the urban areas. For example, in terms of value spent per consumer, we are less than one-sixth the average of China consumption. The penetration and consumption gap only widened during the pandemic-induced challenges. To address some of the questions on D2C, the unorganized and the small sector have surely witnessed growth in niche channels. At a national scale, cumulatively, they represent less than 10% of the market.
Having said that, the competitive landscape has evolved, and much competition has entered the category. Healthy competition can always help grow the category. Our aim has been to address the common and diverse challenges faced by menstruators across markets and make superior propositions from our diverse portfolio available to them. Kumar shared in the presentation our extensive efforts on busting taboos and myths regarding periods and our extensive period education program across schools. Through this, we remain focused on executing our integrated growth strategy, delighting consumers with propositions that are superior across vectors and drive category growth to create value. Let me take an example of our continued commitment to raise the bar on how our consumers experience our products. Our Whisper Ultra XL is a testament to catering to evolving consumer needs, prioritizing leakage and stain prevention and comfort during heavy flow period days.
Recently, Whisper launched the new Whisper Ultra XL for heavy flow. The product has first-of-its-kind Cushion Core Technology and cotton-like soft top layer that offers up to 100% leak protection along with comfort. With this product, we continue to delight consumers with our superior offerings, creating value and enhancing our portfolio in the feminine care category. I'll move on to some questions on our healthcare category. Mr. Mayur Methani from Mahesh Kumar & Co. has asked how our new products are doing in the healthcare segment and if the increase in Cough Drops' size and pricing contribute to better growth. Similarly, Mr. Ramkrishan V from Equity Intelligence Pvt. Ltd., Aniruddh, and others have posed questions on how specific segments are doing, especially with innovation. We're always listening to what consumers need and incorporate the insights across product formulation, packaging, and communication to better serve consumer needs.
Consumer insights fuel our innovation efforts, allowing us to introduce products that offer unique solutions to consumer challenges for upcoming jobs to be done. In fact, in 1924, the parent company, Procter & Gamble Company, created the Market Research Department to understand the usage of products by consumers. It's been 100 years since, and P&G has continued to reinvent the consumer research field. In the last 12 months itself, we've launched many innovations in India. The first one that I can think of is the new Vicks VapoRub Steam Pods, which are the first steam inhalation capsules launched globally. New Vicks Roll-On that Kumar spoke of, offering fast action in just two minutes in a hassle-free and on-the-go roll-on format for headache relief, and the most recent has been the Vicks Cough Drops Double Power.
Formulated on the basis of consumer feedback, the launch of the Double Power Cough Drops, our first-ever double-powered transformation to the iconic triangle-shaped cough drops, can help relieve symptoms of throat irritation and cough unlike ever before. Initial feedback has been very positive for many of these products. These are not just new launches, but an effort from the company to tap into evolving jobs to be done at our consumer ends with new propositions that don't even exist today. We are very positive in how they can delight the consumer and meet their evolving needs. We've also ensured that we have supported these innovations with the right awareness and availability to ensure positive moments of growth-inducing trials. Even in a challenging operating environment, we delivered balanced growth this year while continuing to drive category growth through such innovations that delight our consumers.
The next cluster of questions are on the financial performance of the company. Mr. Pratik Prajapati from Motilal Oswal Financial Services has asked, "What measures are being taken to maintain or improve margins without compromising on product quality given rising input costs?" Similar questions from Mr. Ajay Thakur, Anand Rathi Institutional Equities, Mr. Shirish Pardeshi from Centrum Broking. We also have questions on margin decline and June quarter results from Mr. Vikas Daga for Yashwi Securities, Shubham Dubey, ET Now, Vicky Punjabi from UTI Mutual Fund, and others. We would like the record to reflect the accurate picture of our results. Our structural margins this year have actually improved significantly to the tune of 400 basis points, driven by our deliberate efforts on productivity across cost buckets, as well as innovation in the premium segments to enable consumers to trade up in line with their changing needs.
We've also shared with you a long-term picture of our trends in the presentation. Specific to the June quarter, though, it was a deliberate choice to invest part of the margin back into the business to create awareness regarding the new lineup of innovations that Kumar and I just spoke of. Long-term equity-building investments are foundational for superiority and the trust that our brands have earned and developed and pay out to sell them within a few quarters. Overall, for us, productivity is more than cost-cutting. It is a more efficient way of operating in service to consumers and customers every day. Like Kumar mentioned, we have developed a strong productivity muscle over the years. Productivity is fully embedded in our operating models and is embraced in every part of our operation.
That is the fuel that allows us to reinvest in superiority across the five vectors and stay ahead of what the consumers want. The next set of questions are on A&P spends of the company. Mr. Mehul Savla from RippleWave Equity Advisors has asked, "Advertising costs in the last five years from 2020 have increased by 85% from INR 307 crore to INR 568 crore, while the sales have approximately increased by 40% during the same period. Is this due to competitive intensity? Is this the new norm, or is the plan to make the ad spends more effective so that sales growth is commensurate with spends growth?" There are various factors that impact A&P spends. This spend is a function of the business need at hand and the right scale of consumer awareness needed to address it. It also considers the innovation pipeline and the awareness support that it may need.
Therefore, this could vary substantially from year to year. When we have a superior product that we have innovated and brought into the market, we intend to make it available to as many right consumers as possible, make as many right consumers as possible aware that the superior proposition exists. With the right combination of messages and touchpoints, we make this happen. This year, we had a brilliant lineup of innovation, including the ones we discussed, like Whisper Ultra XL, Vicks Cough Drops Double Power, and many more. The focus has always been and remains growing the category by delighting our consumers with superior propositions in a way that builds long-term trust with the consumers. We now move on to the next cluster of questions on the growth outlook for the company.
Mr. Pratik Prajapati from Motilal Oswal Financial Services and Suneera Tandon from HT Media have asked about the long-term prospect of the Indian market and the management's plan to capitalize on key growth opportunities for the company in the next three to five years. The fast-moving consumer goods industry has witnessed about 4% volume growth recently and is expected to be in mid-single digits for this financial year. There are, however, several categories where consumption is underdeveloped, whether we look at the potential to further improve and impact consumer lives or if we compare to other countries with similar per capita income. Overall, our aim is to drive category growth by uncovering and serving new jobs to be done with evolving consumer needs and aspirations.
Our best path forward remains to double down on our dynamic integrated growth strategy of a focused product portfolio of daily use categories where performance drives brand choice, superiority of product performance, packaging, brand communication, retail execution, and value, both customer and consumer, productivity, constructive disruption across the value chain, and an agile and accountable organization, all towards rounded value creation. The next cluster of questions are on category-level trends. Mr. Binesh Shukla from PhillipCapital India has asked to share the revenue mix in detail. Other questions about product-level market share and quarterly growth trends have been asked by Mr. Shirish Pardeshi from Centrum Broking, Mr. Shilpa Ranipeta from CNBC-TV18, and others. We are market leaders in both FemCare category, nearly half the market, and Cough and Cold category, more than half the market.
In the year gone by, growth has been balanced across both the segments along with the strongest innovation pipeline that we have seen in recent years. This has been possible because our focus has actually been to grow and build the category, and that's what we will continue to focus on. For the company, FemCare contributes about 70% and healthcare about 30% in revenue. FemCare is leading the growth for the company. I'll move on to a set of questions on distribution coverage. Mr. Binesh Shukla from PhillipCapital India, Mr. Shirish Pardeshi Centrum Broking, Mr. Krishnan Sambamoorthy from Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities, and others have asked to share the distribution reach for Whisper and Vicks, specifically in chemists, and trends over the past three to five years. We've been consistently and effectively growing our coverage.
Over the last three years, our reach and coverage has grown more than 1.5 times. Even in the feminine hygiene category, we have grown our distribution footprint over 1.2 times in the last few years. With our strategy in place, Whisper continues to be present in most contributing chemists. However, what makes this even more impactful is how we're engaging with the stores and leveraging the power of data and digital transformation. We have developed an in-house artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithm that analyzes consumer behavior patterns to customize a range of P&G products at a store level. With this, we have transitioned from a cluster-level planning to a store or a neighborhood-level planning.
This model is helpful for the consumer in making their desired products available in store and helpful for the store owners in helping them maximize sales, optimizing inventory, and significantly reducing non-moving stock. A win-win for all stakeholders. Let me now take some questions on new product launches. Ms. Virti Shah from YES Securities has asked, "What are the new product launches on the cards, and how should we look at the healthcare portfolio growth?" Mr. Shubham Dubey from ET Now, Kinjal Desai from Nippon India Mutual Fund, and others have asked similar questions about the FemCare portfolio. Actually, this past year has been great in terms of our brands upgrading and introducing innovation across the portfolio.
This includes the Vicks Cough Drops Double Power that delivers a more effective and longer-lasting relief from sore throat, the new Whisper Ultra XL for heavy flow that provides leakage and stain prevention and comfort during heavy flow period days with a first-of-its-kind cushion core technology and cotton-like soft top layer. We also introduced Vicks VapoRub Steam Pods, an easy-to-use and on-the-go solution for relieving headache via the Vicks Roll-On, Whisper Period Panties, and many more. The approach is integral to the success of our Integrated Growth Strategy because it is inherently dynamic. It adapts to the changing needs of the consumers, customers, and society. It demands that we not sit still. Superiority that delights our consumers is ever-evolving.
So we remain focused on learning and executing what can drive irresistible superiority across each of our categories to attract users and help them more effectively tackle their jobs to be done. The next set of questions are on the macroeconomic landscape. Sagar Malviya from BCCL has asked, "Are you seeing green shoots in the demand situation, and is inflation still a concern?" We have received similar questions specific to rural growth from Ms. Meenakshi Verma Ambwani from Business Line, Shilpa Ranipeta from CNBC-TV18, and others. We believe we have already addressed this in the presentation, but we definitely are seeing green shoots in rural consumption, primarily behind good monsoons softening inflation. The category demand is growing healthily, with category sales and users growing double-digit. Now, let me take some specific questions on a few different topics. Mr.
Now, let me take some specific questions on a few different topics. Mr. Ranjith Hingorani has asked, "Nowadays, disturbed sleeping pattern is a big issue, and you've introduced Vicks ZzzQuil Sleep Aid. How are you going to tap this new category and make it synonym for good night's sleep in the minds of consumers in the next decade?" In India, conditions such as occasional sleeplessness continue to be underdiagnosed and under-treated due to limited awareness. To address this, we are focusing on a multi-channel and integrated approach on ways to address occasional challenges of sleep onset. We are following a three-pronged approach based on awareness, collaboration, and access. We've been partnering with the right set of stakeholders, like the World Sleep Society, to raise awareness on why sleep is essential for health. We are leveraging the right touchpoints to broaden our reach according to consumers' needs and preferences.
We are available at leading pharmacies and e-commerce platforms in Tier 1 as well as Tier 2 cities. The consumer need and preference is at the core of our efforts, and thus, with melatonin and vitamin B6, we have added ingredients such as lavender and chamomile. ZzzQuil continues to be the number one bestseller on e-commerce platforms in the nutritional sleep supplements category. I next move to a question by Mr. Sagar Malviya from ET, who was asked about the business reorganization towards becoming a more agile and accelerating growth. We have designed and continue to refine and strengthen P&G's organization structure so it enables P&G's people to focus on our biggest opportunities for growth: fully empowered, agile, and accountable. This is all in service of delighting consumers with superior proposition.
I'll next move to a question by Ms. Vartika Rawat from Moneycontrol, who has asked, "How are you looking at boosting consumption in the rural and urban markets, and what are you offering in the festive season?" As a part of our strategic approach, we recognize the significance of growing consumption and creating value in various markets. The festive season aligns with a crucial buying period in the retail industry, and we have developed comprehensive plans to cater to both rural and urban markets through traditional retail, modern retail, and e-commerce channels with strategic partners with our customers focused on joint value creation. Next, we received a question from Mr. Ramkrishan V of Equity Intelligence on disposal of sanitary napkins in an environmentally friendly way, and how do we as a company plan to solve this problem?
We are on a journey of sustainability and continue to work with the government and other stakeholders on both solid waste and plastic packaging waste. We continue to work with different state authorities and organizations to enable collection as a part of our extended producers' responsibility. We're also working with partnerships with the municipalities and NGOs who collect the waste that our consumers will segregate, and we are testing technologies to upcycle. The final set of questions that we have received are on quick commerce. Ms. Meenakshi Verma Ambwani from The Hindu Business Line has asked, "What percentage of your sales comes from quick commerce segment? How do you view the quick commerce segment and overall e-commerce evolving?" Similar question was also asked by Ms. Vartika Rawat from Moneycontrol.
India's quick commerce has experienced a 22% rise in monthly active users when compared to India's top five quick commerce websites in July versus in January this year. While currently a small channel, it is growing rapidly for us, and it is expected to continue to drive the growth across FMCG as the channel expands to multiple locations. The penetration and frequency of use differ significantly by geography and demographics. At P&G, we are using the right set of data drivers and tech enablers. Our strategy is dynamic and applies to all channels. We have invested in developing a deep understanding of the consumer behavior on quick commerce, which tells us that their path to purchase is unique, focused disproportionately on convenience in this channel. We've also ensured that we are supplementing our brand-building efforts with a supply chain model to support this very unique business structure.
We've been able to do this with a strategic customer partnership that celebrates the best of data and analytics. We know this is working because quick commerce for us is more than doubling year- on- year. With that, we have endeavored to respond to most of the questions that we received from all of you, either in the presentation or in the Q&A section at the end. Some questions, while not called out, would have also been addressed as a part of what you heard from us today. We hope today's session was both informative and exciting for you. Once again, we thank you for joining on the call today. You may disconnect now. Have a great day.