Consumer Sentiment Down: Thomson Reuters/Ipsos PCSI Survey

Consumer sentiment for India has dipped by 0.1 percentage points over last month, as per the April 2018 Thomson Reuters/ Ipsos India Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI) Survey.  

The monthly PCSI result is driven by the aggregation of the four, weighted, sub-indices: the PCSI Employment Confidence (Jobs) Sub Index which is up 0.4 points; the PCSI Economic Expectations (Expectations) Sub Index which is down 0.2 points; the PCSI Investment Climate (Investment) Sub Index which is down 0.2 points and the PCSI Current Personal Financial Conditions (Current Conditions) Sub Index which is up 0.2 percentage points over last month.

Notably, consumer sentiment for India has been sliding since Jan 2018, through Feb 2018, March 2018 and now for the fourth consecutive month in April 2018. What is the cause of this pessimism? 

“While two economic indices, i.e. Economic Expectations and Investment Climate are on a downward trend, the positive movement of Employment Confidence is arresting further drop in overall Consumer Sentiment. Positive outlook of job scenario is also boosting the confidence on Personal Financials, “says Parijat Chakraborty, Executive Director, Ipsos Public Affairs.
 

The Thomson Reuters/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.

 India PCSI 2013-2018 Trend

These are findings of an Ipsos online poll conducted March 23–April 6, 2018.  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 is particularly valuable in its 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 Thomson Reuters/ 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.

About Ipsos

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