India: Consumer Confidence Collapsed Under COVID-19 Induced Lockdown

(9 June 2020) The Consumer Confidence Index (CSI) of India touched a historic low of 63.7 in May, a far cry from the 85.6 reported just two months ago, according to survey data from the Central Bank of India. The one-year lookahead captured by the Future Expectations Index (FEI) also fell sharply to 97.9 from 115.2 in March.

• According to the survey, 74.4 percent of consumers felt that India's general economic situation worsened; 14.4 percent of respondents felt it improved. Sentiment toward employment was similar with 67.4 percent of the respondents feeling that employment conditions had deteriorated. 
• Looking ahead, roughly half of the respondents felt that general economic conditions would worsen.As per consumer perception on employment,  felt that the current perception on employment against 19.2 felt improvement. 

Note: In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CSI conducted the survey through telephonic interviews during the period May 5-17, 2020, for 13 major cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram.