Two-thirds of the Indians surveyed were secure about their jobs and expected pay hikes that they said would match inflation
Kantar’s Global Issues Barometer survey indicates that Indians are apprehensive about a new bout of Covid. Indian households, reported Mint, are afraid about the conflict in Ukraine, the growing state of the economy and the high inflation.
The Kantar survey talked to 800 people in India from a pool of 11,000 consumers globally and was carried out across 19 countries, representing 68% of global gross domestic product.
Of the total number surveyed, 27% said that Covid remained a top concern for them while 17% said that inflation was a major issue for them. Mint reported that the spontaneous response from people indicated that 37% of those surveyed in India mentioned the war. 29% mentioned the economy and the growing inflation. There were other concerns, too like climate and environmental issues.
The survey indicated an important point: two-thirds of the Indians surveyed were secure about their jobs and expected pay hikes that they said would match inflation.
“There was a bit of worry about the future, about jobs — that kind of concern we see going up. Obviously, what has been the biggest change is inflation and the state of the economy. People are a lot more worried about that. This is much more about how households optimize their spending”
— Deepender Rana, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar
“The cost-of-living crisis is number two on people’s minds. Price increases in fuel, food and drink, and household bills have been noticed the most. Compared to the world, Indians feel the pinch of price increases on white goods more,” the survey by Kantar pointed out.
Minto reported that the current global events were affecting long-term plans as well as short-term behaviour of Indians, according to Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar.
The survey revealed that 74% of Indians felt that the increasing cost of living was among the top issues that was impacting their major life plans. Incidentally, 29% Indians said they had started to reduce the amount of money they saved – this was higher than the global average. Kantar estimated that luxury goods, entertainment services, and holidays could bear the brunt as consumers rationalized household budgets. “Almost half of households (41%) are considering economizing subscriptions to entertainment subscriptions — one industry that did well during the pandemic. Longer-term, almost three-fourth of people say the current turmoil is impacting their big life plans; saving for big future life events (47%), children’s education (27%) and retirement plans (24%),” the survey found.
Deepender Rana, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar was quoted by Mint saying that “things have moved on from covid, with some of the pessimism around the pandemic going down. There was a bit of worry about the future, about jobs — that kind of concern we see going up. Obviously, what has been the biggest change is inflation and the state of the economy. People are a lot more worried about that. This is much more about how households optimize their spending”, he said.
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