Rural Consumer Confidence Survey reveals optimism in income and spending for 2025
Rural households in the country are consistently expecting better earnings over the next year to go with robust spending sentiment, driven by essential spending, a study by RBI officials based on data from the Reserve Bank initiated the
Rural Consumer Confidence Survey
(RCCS) survey shows.
'Despite ongoing concerns, households exhibit strong confidence in future income and resilient spending behaviour. Inflation perceptions and expectations remain high but show a moderating trend. The Current Situation Index has steadily recovered, while the Future Expectations Index indicates steady optimism,' authors Sourajyoti Sardar, Manu Swarnkar, Ayan Paul, and Tushar B Das in an article in the April 2025 bulletin. The views expressed in the article are those of the authors and not of the RBI.
Since starting in September 2022, covering 42 districts across 19 states, with a target sample size of 6,100, the survey has since expanded to 9000 households from 610 villages across 100 districts, covering all 28 Indian states and three union territories and is conducted on a bi-monthly basis.
The survey questionnaire is divided in four blocks ranging from essential demographic details, respondents' views and anticipations on the economy, expectations on household's income and spending and quantitative assessments of inflation perceptions and expectations.
'The perceptions about current inflation have shown a declining trend over time, barring brief episodes of heightened concern, driven by elevated food prices. These have also translated to lower inflation expectations, albeit with the rate of decline being slower methodology and results in terms of descriptive statistics based on the RCCS data collected so fa,' the article said.
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