Consumer confidence dips further
Consumer confidence among Indian households dipped in May, sliding 6.3 percentage points over April 2021 amid an intensified covid wave, findings of the monthly Refinitiv-ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI) for India revealed on Thursday.
The monthly PCSI records consumer attitudes on the current and future state of local economies, personal finance situations, savings and confidence to make large investments. The index is composed of four subindices: current conditions index; expectations index; investment index; and jobs index. For the month of October, all four sub-indices reported a dip. The monthly PCSI which is driven by the aggregation of the four weighted sub-indices, plummeted across all four indexes in May.
The PCSI employment confidence or jobs sub-index is down by 4.7 percentage points; the PCSI current personal financial conditions or current conditions sub-index reported a steep fall of 9 percentage points. The PCSI investment climate sub-index was down 8.4 percentage points, while the economic expectations sub index, dropped by 4.4 percentage points, Ipsos said.
In the aftermath of last year’s lockdown, consumer sentiment reported steady improvement till January 2021, Ipsos said in its April survey. It dipped slightly in April, before falling significantly in May.
The second, more widespread surge has again led to localized lockdowns. Cases, on the other hand, touched record highs.
This has once again shaken consumer confidence—who are now concerned about managing dayto-day household expenses.
“The second wave has been far greater in intensity as compared to the first wave and we are seeing its terrible impact not only on our healthcare infrastructure, which is stressed due to the steep surge in cases, but also on consumer sentiment, which has plummeted across the four sub-indices. Especially for personal finances, for day to day running of household expenses and savings and investments for the future,” Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India, said.
Confidence around jobs and the economy too have taken a hit, he added. Several states are currently under some form of curfews depending on the surge in cases, this is impacting livelihoods and earnings, Ipsos said.
Adarkar said a rebound could be slow. “We will have to closely watch the Covid trajectory over the next 3-4 weeks and gauge if restrictions are being lifted from June onwards. If it does not happen and vaccination drive does not pick up pace, we are looking at a very slow rebound.”