Consumer sentiment is downbeat across all 4 indices of jobs, economy, personal finances & investment for future.
New Delhi: The monthly Refinitiv-Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI) for April 2020, has shown a significant 3.8 percentage points drop over March 2020, as urban Indians brace themselves up for more period of uncertainty and status quo, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All four indices have shown a major drop due to depleting confidence in the immediate future.
The monthly PCSI, which is driven by the aggregation of the four weighted sub-indices, has lowered over the last round, in March 2020, by 3.8 percentage points. So, the PCSI Employment Confidence (“Jobs”) Sub-Index is down by 2.5 percentage points, the PCSI Economic Expectations (“Expectations”) Sub Index, has dropped by 2.2 percentage points; the PCSI Investment Climate (“Investment”) Sub-Index has plummeted by 6.0 percentage points; and the PCSI Current Personal Financial Conditions (“Current Conditions”) Sub-Indexhasdipped by 5.8 percentage points, over the previous month.
“The long-drawn COVID-19 crisis and the complete lockdown have impacted urban Indians’ sentiment, further worsened by a huge amount of uncertainty about the future. The consumer sentiment has taken a substantial beating in comfort with personal finances and allocating money for future investments. There is clearly an anxiety, which is leading to downbeat sentiments. And it is still unknown when the ordeal will end. The recently announced lockdown extension will certainly worsen this sentiment. After the lockdown is lifted, it will be critical for people to feel confident to loosen their purse strings- to spend or to invest,” says Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.
India PCSI 2014-2020 Trend:
These are findings of an Ipsos online poll conducted March 20, 2020 – April 3, 2020. For this survey, a sample of 500 adults from Ipsos’ India online panel aged 16-64 was interviewed online. As this is an online poll in India, representative of the online community in the country, it is not reflective of the general population; however, the online sample in is particularly valuable in their own right as they are more urban, educated and have more income than their fellow citizens and often referred to as “Upper Deck Consumer Citizens” or Primary Consumers. The precision of the Refinitiv/Ipsos online polls is measured using a Bayesian Credibility Interval. In his case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 5.0 percentage points for all adults. For more information on the Bayesian Credibility Interval please see http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5836
The Refinitiv/Ipsos India Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI), ongoing since 2010, is a monthly national survey of 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 sub-indices: Current Conditions Index; Expectations Index; Investment Index; and, Jobs Index.
