Source: RBI & PIB
Reserve Bank released the results of the January 2020 round of its Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS). The survey measures consumer perception (current and future) on five economic variables – economic situation, employment, price level, income, and spending.
Cities covered under the survey
- The survey was conducted in 13 major cities, viz., Ahmedabad; Bengaluru; Bhopal; Chennai; Delhi; Guwahati; Hyderabad; Jaipur; Kolkata; Lucknow; Mumbai; Patna; and Thiruvananthapuram.
- Perceptions and expectations on the general economic situation, the employment scenario, the overall price situation, and own income and spending are obtained from 5,389 households across these cities
Key highlights
- Consumer confidence in January 2020 deteriorated further vis-à-vis a year ago, with a decline in the current situation index (CSI). A consumer confidence Index above 100 gives an optimistic perception of the consumers.
- The future expectations index (FEI), however, remained in the positive terrain and indicated a marginal improvement in the year ahead over the previous survey round (Chart 1)
- The current situation index measures the change in consumer perception over an economic issue in the last one year while the future expectations index measures what consumer thinks about the same variables, one year ahead.
- Current perception on the general economic situation, price levels, and household income remained weak when compared with the position a year ago; the one year ahead of expectations on employment, however, improved marginally over the previous round
- Most households perceived prices and spending has increased during the past one year and expect a further rise in expenditure over the next year
- The households reported lower spending on non-essential items as compared to one year ago.
