Consumers see silver lining in Indian economy: ZyFin

Consumer sentiment improved in April on better job prospects, increased expectations about household income and drop in inflation levels, according to a latest survey.ZyFin Research's COI (Consumer Outlook Index) improved to 45.7 in April, up 12% on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis. 

"The improvement in sentiment is primarily due to strengthening of Indian consumers' outlook towards better job security and job availability along with expectations regarding rising household income," ZyFin, a macro-analytics firm focused on the emerging markets, said Stock Market Trading Tips   

COI is a measure of consumer sentiment in urban India based on outlook towards employment, inflation and spending plans. It is based on a monthly survey of 3,000 consumers in 11 cities across the country. A score above 50 reflects optimism, while a score below 50 is an indication of pessimism. 

North India recorded an increase of 26%, the highest among all the regions. East India, however, is growing sluggishly with hardly 1% improvement over the previous last year. 

"Poor infrastructure and connectivity may be regarded as a culprit for this slow growth. Consumers in Mangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi are optimistic about the overall development ofIndian economy," ZyFin stated Financial Astrology Trading Tips
A large number of Indian consumers believe that inflation would come down over the next 12 months thereby improving their standard of living. 

ZyFin Research's index on inflation suggests 34% of the consumers surveyed in April this year expected that inflation would cool down over the next six months compared to just 25% who thought so in April last year. 

"As interest rates are softening, we can expect that more consumers will eventually open up their purse strings, something they have been holding on to tightly in the last three years," said Debopam Chaudhuri, chief economist, ZyFin Research Intraday Trading Tips

ZyFin Research Basic necessities Spending Index, although being in pessimist zone, has shown an improvement of 36% (y-o-y). "This suggests that Indian consumers are limping back to getting comfortable with their monthly outflow," ZyFin said. 

With overall sentiment on employment and income recovering, consumers are more likely to invest in new homes. ZyFin's New Home Index improved by 40% on a y-o-y basis in April. 

"Tumbling inflation and easing interest rate is assumed to be a reason for this sudden confidence. In all, 37% of our respondents were planning to buy home in the next 6- 8 months compared to 26% last year," ZyFin said Jackpot Trading Tips