Consumer Confidence sees a robust 2.9 percentage points surge in August 2021, as confidence around jobs boosts: Refinitiv-Ipsos India monthly PCSI

Consumer Confidence for Urban Indians has surged by a robust 2.9 percentage points in August 2021 over the previous month, according to the monthly Refinitiv-Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI). The monthly PCSI, which is driven by the aggregation of the four weighted sub-indices, is showing recovery and improvement over the previous month: The PCSI Employment Confidence (“Jobs”) Sub-Index has moved up by a healthy 4.5 percentage points; the PCSI Economic Expectations (“Expectations”) Sub Index, is up by a miniscule 0.4 percentage points; the PCSI Investment Climate (“Investment”) Sub-Index is up significantly by 3.7 percentage points; and the PCSI Current Personal Financial Conditions (“Current Conditions”) Sub-Index has surged by 3.9  percentage points.

“We see some happy tidings in August as consumer confidence is on a rebound. With cities cautiously reopening, confidence around jobs is seeing a major upturn, which in turn is increasing confidence around day-to-day expenditure of running households and even around disposable incomes for big ticket purchases and savings. Confidence around the economy is still on a low ebb, though it has shown marginal improvement. The pandemic has been long drawn and unsparing in its impact. Despite the rebound in August, the overall sentiment continues to remain lower than what we witnessed before the pandemic hit us (March 2020) or before the second wave started (February 2021). Hence, the economy will take longer to get back on grid. At the same time mass immunization and staving off more infections should continue to be the focus,” says Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.