Larger share of people in September feel incomes are lower than last year, shows RBI survey
New Delhi: The percentage of people who felt their incomes had fallen went up slightly from 24.8 percent in July to 25.2 percent in September, according to a survey by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The RBI’s Consumer Confidence Survey (CSS) for September, released Friday, showed that 25.2 percent of the survey population felt their incomes had decreased as compared to last September. In July, this figure stood at 24.8 percent.
However, while the income situation in September this year seems to have deteriorated since July, it seems to be better than what people felt in September 2022. Last September, 34.4 percent of the respondents felt their incomes were lower than what they were in September 2021.
The latest round of CSS survey was conducted across 19 major cities from 2 to 11 September covering 6,077 respondents.
The survey studies the current perceptions of consumers or households on topics like economic growth, employment, income situation, price levels and inflation as compared to the previous year and also examines what are their future expectations.
Beset by high food prices and overall high inflation, around 83 percent of the respondents felt that inflation increased in the country as compared to price levels in September last year.
The perception of rising prices and falling incomes led to a slight uptick in the share of people who cut back on essential spending and a somewhat larger increase in those who reduced non-essential spending.
While 3 percent of the respondents decreased essential spending in July 2023, this rose to 3.2 percent by September. Similarly, 36.6 percent said spending on non-essential items had decreased in July as compared to 38.2 percent in September.
The bright spot was public sentiment regarding employment. In September, 34 percent of respondents felt employment increased, up from 30.8 percent in July.
Meanwhile, the RBI highlighted that overall consumer sentiments had improved and had reverted to trend. “Consumer confidence for the current period reverted to its recovery path after a brief pause in July 2023 round of the survey; the current situation index (CSI) reached a four-year high on the back of respondents’ better assessment of current general economic situation and employment conditions in September 2023,” the central banker said in its bi-monthly survey report.
The consumer sentiment towards the ‘general economic situation’ showed that 36.1 percent of the population felt the situation had improved, up from 30.4 percent in July. Conversely, a smaller proportion (44 percent) felt that the situation had worsened as compared to 51.1 percent in July.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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