Consumer Sentiment Further Improves In January 2023: Survey

Consumer sentiment has further improved in January 2023, over December 2022, showing a minor uptick of 0.6 percentage points, according to the India monthly Refinitiv-Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI) for January 2023.  In addition, people are more optimistic about jobs, their own finances, savings, and investments than they are about the economy.

The monthly PCSI is measured by four weighted sub-indices and shows interesting findings. The PCSI Current Personal Financial Conditions (“Current Conditions”) Sub-Index is up 1.2 percentage points, the Investment Climate (“Investment”) Sub-Index has increased 1.1 percentage points, the PCSI Employment Confidence (“Jobs”) Sub-Index is up 1 percentage points, and the PCSI Economic Expectations (“Expectations”) Sub Index, is down 1.5  percentage points.

“The new year has begun well, with consumer sentiment further improving in January 2023. In December 2022, consumer sentiment showed a slight recovery after November’s dip. With the War is Ukraine not abating, and the global economy showing a slowdown, India too is not insulated from macro forces and hence consumers are somewhat pessimistic about the Indian economy. Though we see a further surge in consumer sentiment around personal finances (for running monthly household expenditures) and confidence around investments and savings for the purchase of big ticket items. Even optimism about job prospects is improving, with companies hiring in the new fiscal year. Still premature to predict how the year will shape up. 

Europe is greatly impacted by inflation and energy crises and India too is seeing impact in terms of increased cost of living. Despite tight controls by the government to rein in fuel prices, we could still see a greater impact of the War in Ukraine with the rupee further weakening against the Euro and the dollar, as evolved economies are likely to make further corrections in their valuations,” says Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.