MUMBAI: As the covid-19 pandemic continues to spread, India’s economy has lost its main engine of growth: consumption. A survey by the country’s central bank shows how stark is the pessimism among Indians.
It also gives various worrying signs about future prospects. The consumer confidence indices, an output of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) survey of 5300 households spread across 13 cities, fell to a historic low in May.
The future expectations index dropped to 97.9 in May from 115.2 in March. A reading below 100 is regarded as pessimistic while that above 100 is indicates optimism.
To be sure, consumer confidence has been falling for the past one year. The most worrying part of the survey is the despondency on employment prospects.