New Delhi, Oct. 2 -- Emami Ltd's Rs.282 crore open-market share buyback comes after a difficult year for the consumer-goods maker. Announced last month at Rs.475 apiece, the move offers a measure of support to shareholders even as the stock has fallen more than 30% over the past 12 months. The Nifty FMCG index has declined around 20% over the same period. Emami shares closed at Rs.372.65 on Thursday.

Nitin Gupta of HDFC Research said, "Emami's weakness is not unique," attributing the sector's domestic weakness to seasonality, weak consumer pockets in rural India, volatile financial performance and the shift towards direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. The West Asia conflict has added to the pressure, hurting supply chains, logistics costs, a...