Consumer optimism falls by 4.6% in August; rural India sentiments rise

The overall consumer sentiment in the country fell by 4.62% even as rural population expressed increased optimism following a favourable monsoon during August, latest data shows.

Consumer sentiments on the current economic conditions fell by 5.25% while their expectations regarding the future fell by 4.2% during August, according to data on consumer sentiments by BSE and CMIE.

"India consumer sentiment index fell by 4.62% to 96.1 in August 2016," BSE said in a statement.

While urban consumer sentiments fell by 1.06%, the same in rural India rose positively by 1.08% last month, compared to July this year.

Consumer sentiments in urban areas regarding the current economic conditions deteriorated by 1.83% and consumer expectations regarding the future worsened by 0.57% for the month, BSE said.

On the other hand, index for rural sentiments on current economic conditions grew by 0.46% and increased by 1.46% on future expectations.

"It is interesting to note that Indian consumers are more optimistic about their future than their own assessment of their current economic condition," BSE Managing Director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said.

"This greater hope in the future is evident in both urban and rural regions. Thus, while the overall sentiments in rural and urban regions are divergent, their relative perception regarding their own future converges to unambiguous optimism," he said.

According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) Managing Director and chief executive Mahesh Vyas, the sharp rural-urban contrasts in consumer sentiments reflect "the divergent trends in the two regions today".

"While rural India rejoices the advent of the monsoon, urban India's sentiment is apparently impacted by the pressures of rising inflation and unemployment," he added.

BSE, the world's fastest stock exchange with trade speed of six microseconds and CMIE, India's leading business information company, had launched world's first high-frequency data on unemployment and consumer sentiments in April this year.