Consumer sentiments improve, but still too low

The recovery in consumer sentiments from the pandemic has been the slowest among all economic indicators

Consumer sentiments improved in January 2023. The Index of Consumer Sentiments (ICS) reached 83.9 (base 100 during September-December 2015), which is the highest since sentiments were hit severely by the Covid-19 induced lockdowns. The ICS, however, continues to remain lower than its pre-pandemic level. The ICS was at 105.3 in February 2020. It had dropped substantially by nearly 8 per cent in March 2020 itself before shedding a massive 53 per cent in April 2020. The ICS dropped early upon the advent of Covid restrictions and then massively as the restrictions became pervasive.

The recovery in consumer sentiments from the