Consumer sentiments uncertain

Consumer expectations in rural India were down by 1.7 per cent in May while expectations in urban India improved by 6.4 per cent

The index of consumer sentiments (ICS) grew by 0.8 per cent in May 2022. That’s a rather small increase. Monthly growth in the ICS in the past few months has been in low single-digits, but a fall below one per cent is a new low. The fall in the growth rate in May is not surprising because it seems to be an extension of a trend of falling growth rates of the ICS since February 2022. May was the fourth consecutive month of a fall in the growth rate.

The two major features of the May ICS are — first,