Skip to main content

RBI survey: Consumer confidence on jobs, economic situation deteriorates

Consumer Confidence Indices
By Rajiv Shah 
Results of the Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS), carried out by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for November 2018, suggest that growing pessimism on general economic situation and employment scenario. Conducted in 13 major cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram - RBI said, "Future expectations index (FEI) also moderated due to lower optimism on the employment scenario and household spending."
Based on 5,326 responses on households’ perceptions and expectations on the general economic situation, the employment scenario, the overall price situation and their own income and spending, the survey results show, to quote RBI, that the current situation index (CSI) "declined further in November 2018 in a phase that commenced in November 2016, on the back of growing pessimism on the general economic situation and the employment scenario as also some cutback in spending."
RBI further said, "Current sentiment on the general economic situation dipped further into the pessimistic zone, while the outlook for the year ahead was broadly unchanged from the previous round of the survey." It added, "Sentiment on the employment scenario also deteriorated for the current period and for the one year ahead horizon."
According to RBI, "Notwithstanding a marginal improvement in sentiment, consumers remained pessimistic about the price situation... In contrast, respondents’ assessment on the income situation for the current year improved, and they also expressed optimism about their income one year ahead... There was moderation in sentiment on households’ spending with cutbacks expected in expenditure on non-essential items."

Comments

TRENDING

How strategic is India's commercial expansion in the Mediterranean?

By Vijay Prashad  On 26 October 2026, Greece’s foreign minister George Gerapetritis stood at the United Nations headquarters and rejected the maritime agreement between Turkey and Libya. Gerapetritis spoke on behalf of Greece of course, but also Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, the European Union, and the United Arab Emirates. Five days later, the Indian frigate INS Trishul entered Souda Bay in Crete as part of activities with the US Navy installation (Naval Support Activity) and with the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre. The sequence illuminates a developing strategic geography: India’s naval reach, its confrontation with Pakistan’s new Turkish partner, and its ambition to connect Indian capital to European markets increasingly converge in the eastern Mediterranean.

Asbestos found in 60% rangoli powder tested in India, Malaysia, England: Civil society sounds alert

Counterview News   Asbestos , a substance known to cause cancer, has been detected in 60 per cent of rangoli powder samples tested in a laboratory in South Korea, raising concerns about the safety of products used during Diwali and other festivals. Indian samples recorded particularly high contamination rates, according to an investigation released by environmental and public health organisations.

India among targets as China-linked hackers 'exploit' VPNs, firewalls

Counterview News   Cyberattackers grew faster and harder to detect in 2025, increasingly slipping through trusted systems rather than breaking in with obvious malware, claims U.S.-based  cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike's 2026 Global Threat Report . The report says adversaries "grew more evasive than ever before," exploiting trust in supply chain partners, legitimate software, internal systems and employees. CrowdStrike now tracks 281 adversaries after naming 24 new ones in 2025, plus 150 activity clusters and emerging threat groups.