On account of poor outlook for jobs and economy with the Trump administration’s trade laws, job cuts and other macro factors, consumer sentiment has lowered 1.6 percentage points in May, as per the LSEG-Ipsos PCSI India survey.
The silver lining is that the sentiment for personal finances (for day to day running of households) and investments (savings, spending on big ticket items and investments for the future) is showing a rebound in May 2025 on the back of new tax regime coming into effect and leading to enhanced incomes for tax payers and the salaried class and moderate salary hikes by India Inc.
As per the survey, the PCSI economic expectations sub-index showed a decline of 4.2 percentage points in May 2025, and the consumer sentiment for the PCSI employment confidence (jobs) sub-index has dipped 2.6 percentage points.
“India has shown a great deal of resilience in the face of tough macro factors: tough talking by the Trump administration on job cuts and triggering the trade tariff wars. Global economic slowdown and its impact on the local economy. India was also in the midst of a skirmish with Operation Sindoor. Though the war lasted a week, it impacted the stock markets with early volatility, but later stabilised,” highlighted Amit Adarkar, Ipsos India Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Despite tough macro conditions, India (56.2) is ranked third in the pecking order on the national index score. Among the 30 countries, Malaysia (59.5) holds the highest national index score. No country this month has a national index score of 60 or higher, as per the official statement.