NEW DELHI: Spending on essentials like personal care and household items has grown 33% in December - the highest across five months, according to a report released on Thursday.
This increase is majorly reflected in the Northern part of India, says Consumer data intelligence company Axis My India in its latest findings of the India Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI).
On the other hand, lowest 'increased' spends in the last five months is recorded in non-essential and discretionary products like AC, car, refrigerator etc. at 14%.
Pradeep Gupta, CMD, Axis My India, said, "While the new year brought along hope and optimism for a better 2022, consumers' pursestrings suggest otherwise. The lowest dip in non-essential spending is proof that consumers are curling back to apprehensions triggered by the new variant of the virus and also hoping for a booster dose, something which has recently been announced by the Government."
Expenditure nevertheless remains the same for 78% of the families indicating the sentiment of people living in the southern part of India.
The survey is based on telephonic interviews with a sample size of 10563 people across 36 states.
Overall household spending has also dipped by 3% in comparison to last month during December.
Consumption on health-related items more or less remains the same for 43% of the families, while a surge is witnessed among 40%.
Gauging concern regarding the new variant of the virus, the survey found out that 52% of households believe that the opening up of the economy will get affected by Omicron.