Consumer Confidence Survey December 2015

By | February 3, 2016
(Last Updated On: February 3, 2016)

Source RBI

Date : Feb 03, 2016

Consumer Confidence Survey: December 2015

The Consumer Confidence Survey provides an assessment of respondents’ perceptions on general economic conditions and own financial situation during the current period and a year ahead. The survey captures qualitative information on a three point scale i.e., improve, remain same or worsen, from respondents spread across six metropolitan cities viz. Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. The information so collected is analysed in two parts, viz., current situation as compared with a year ago and the expectations for a year ahead. In the latest Consumer Confidence Survey, field work was carried out between December 21 and December 31, 2015. The salient findings of the survey, based on the responses of around 5,100 respondents are presented below.

Highlights:

I. Current Situation Index (CSI) remained unchanged at its level as in the last quarter (September 2015). Future Expectations Index (FEI) increased fractionally on account of increase in positive perceptions on economic conditions, income and employment in the current round of survey as compared to September 2015 round.

II. The one-year ahead outlook on economic conditions has been consistently better than the positive perceptions on current economic conditions as compared to a year ago. Continuing this trend, such perceptions of the respondents in December 2015 round of the Survey indicated marginal improvement in the general economic situation, as measured by net response, both for the current as also for a-year ahead period (Table 1).

III. The optimism regarding increase in future income (one-year ahead) is higher with net response improving by 2 percentage points as compared with September 2015 round of survey. The net response on current income perceptions as compared to one-year ago, however, showed deterioration by about 1 percentage point during the December 2015 round of Survey as compared to preceding round (Table 2).

IV. The respondents reported increase in negative perceptions on spending during current period as compared to one-year ago and one-year ahead as compared to current situation. However, the related net responses on current and future spending remained high at around 68 per cent during the December 2015 round of survey (Table 3).

V. Similar perceptions were observed relating to spending on essential items and more than 80 per cent respondents reported increase for the current as well as future period. Further, the proportion of respondents reporting increase in current as well as future spending on non-essential items, increased as compared to September 2015 round of survey (Tables 4 and 5).

VI. Employment outlook for one-year ahead as well as current scenario as compared to previous year, improved in this round as compared to previous round of the survey. The related net response for the current period which had reached negative zone, albeit marginally, in September 2015, bounced back in positive territory during this round of the survey. Around one-half of the respondents expected improvement in employment situation a-year ahead (Table 6).

VII. Current sentiments on price levels as compared to one-year ago showed a marginal improvement while future expectations for one-year ahead remained unchanged, in this round of the survey. However, similar perception on current inflation and inflation expectations worsened (Tables 7 and 8).


Table 1: Perceptions on Economic Conditions
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Improved/ Will improve41.743.136.538.056.857.647.751.0
Remained the same/ Will remain the same32.427.832.730.926.822.332.127.6
Worsen/ Will worsen25.929.130.931.116.420.220.321.4
Net Response15.814.05.67.040.437.427.429.6

 

Table 2: Perceptions on Income
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Increased/ Will Increase35.434.929.128.755.452.747.149.1
Remained the same/ Will remain same46.143.750.450.235.535.642.440.4
Decreased/ Will Decrease18.521.420.521.19.111.610.510.5
Net Response16.913.68.67.746.341.136.638.6

 

Table 3: Perceptions on Spending
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Increased/ Will Increase80.087.481.078.778.386.280.979.3
Remained the same/ Will remain same13.79.510.79.815.89.611.210.1
Decreased/ Will Decrease6.33.18.211.56.04.27.910.6
Net Response73.784.472.867.272.382.073.068.6

 

Table 4: Perceptions on Spending-Essential Items
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Increased/ Will Increase85.7091.882.081.480.587.080.181.5
Remained the same/ Will remain same10.896.19.79.014.48.811.69.4
Decreased/ Will Decrease3.392.18.49.65.24.28.39.1
Net Response82.389.773.671.875.382.871.972.4

 

Table 5: Perceptions on Spending-Non-Essential Items
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Increased/ Will Increase41.8946.941.245.343.652.344.049.2
Remained the same/ Will remain same28.3925.535.028.928.724.334.228.6
Decreased/ Will Decrease29.7327.623.825.827.723.421.822.2
Net Response12.219.317.419.515.928.922.227.1

 

Table 6: Perceptions on Employment
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
(Improved/ Will Improve)37.636.031.934.055.853.747.151.6
(Remained Same/Will remain Same)35.332.234.834.728.726.933.429.8
(Worsen/ Will worsen)27.231.833.331.315.519.419.518.7
Net Response10.44.2-1.42.640.334.427.632.9

 

Table 7: Perceptions on price level
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Gone up/ Will go up78.884.380.979.573.982.378.078.9
Remained almost Unchanged16.09.19.410.917.79.112.411.7
Gone down/ Will go down5.26.69.89.68.48.59.59.4
Net Response-73.6-77.6-71.1-70.0-65.5-73.8-68.5-69.5
Note: Perceptions of increase in prices is considered to be negative sentiments and decrease in prices is considered to be positive sentiments. The net responses are therefore, negative.

 

Table 8: Perceptions on rate of change in price levels (Inflation)
(Percentage responses)
Compared with 1-year ago1-year ahead
Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15Mar-15Jun-15Sep-15Dec-15
Gone up/ Will go up82.587.982.786.383.583.881.185.4
Remained almost Unchanged13.79.714.610.812.712.916.311.7
Gone down/ Will go down3.82.42.72.93.73.32.62.8
Net Response-78.7-85.5-80.0-83.4-79.8-80.5-78.5-82.6

1 The September 2015 round of the survey data was published on September 29, 2015 on RBI website. The survey results are based on the views of the respondents and are not necessarily shared by the Reserve Bank of India.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.