Indian consumers’ confidence skids for the fourth month in a row

Consumer confidence witnessed a drop of 3.5 percentage points, declining for the fourth straight month, as revealed by the monthly India — Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI) by Thomson Reuters in partnership with Ipsos.

According to the report, Indian households have shown pessimism towards employment, investments and personal financial conditions. The report was produced by Ipsos after surveying a sample of 500 adults aged 16-64 who were interviewed online.

The monthly PCSI is driven by the aggregation of four sub-indices — Employment Confidence (Jobs), Economic Expectations (Expectations), Investment Climate (Investment) and Current Personal Financial Conditions (Current conditions). The report reflects the consumer behaviour and attitude towards the state of local economies, personal finance situations, active participation in investments, and how they perceive the state of said affairs in the future.

The jobs segment of the index saw a drop of 5.0 percentage points, highest among the four indices; followed closely by economic expectations sub-index that saw a drop of 4.3 percentage points. The investment climate and current personal financial conditions saw a drop of 2.1 and 3.0 percentage points respectively.

Speaking on the report, Amit Adarkar, chief executive officer, Ipsos India and operations director, Asia-Pacific, Ipsos, said, “Confidence of urban Indians has further dwindled, bang in the middle of the festival season. Pessimism is rife across jobs, finances, India’s economy and personal investments.”

The prevailing slump in global economy has put Indian households in doubts of a possible recession, evident by the conservative expenditure attitude. “Global slowdown is impacting most economies including India. These are worrying signs and the government should take steps to arrest this,” said Adarkar.

Here's the complete PCSI report.