Both producers and consumers reported a pessimistic outlook on the state of the economy. Manufacturing firms have faced a difficult situation in Q1FY2021, with a high number of companies reporting low production levels and decreased orders.
A record number of urban consumers reported low levels of confidence in July 2020 about the general economic situation, employment opportunities and income levels.
Pessimistic consumers
The graphs depict the responses to the RBI’s Consumer Confidence Survey conducted between July 1 and 12, 2020, in 13 major Indian cities.
About 78% of urban consumers said in July that the economic situation has worsened. About 78% said the jobs situation has worsened.
Nearly 63% said their income levels have decreased. All three figures were the highest at least since March 2014, when the new format of the survey was launched.
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About 80% of consumers said the prices of commodities have gone up. A record % of respondents said their spending on both essential and non-essential commodities has decreased (61.4% and 12.1%, respectively.
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Producers suffer
The graphs depict the responses of 802 companies in the Industrial Outlook Survey of the manufacturing sector conducted between April and June, FY2021 (Q1) by the RBI.
Companies gave the lowest assessment of their business in Q1FY2021, since at least 2001. In Q1FY2021, close to 72% firms said their production decreased, 64% said their order books decreased, 32.5% said the employment situation worsened, 62% said their profit margin worsened, 38% said the availability of finance from internal accruals worsened and 16% said availability of finance from banks decreased.
All figures in Q1FY21 were record highs.
Source: Reserve Bank of India
