Rural India added 4.3 million jobs in November leading to an increase in the employment rate from 37% in October to 37.5%. Jobs in urban India also witnessed a marginal increase, from 34.2% to 34.4%, last month, said the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
The Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) fell 0.2% in November after urban sentiment fell 1.5%, while rural India rose 0.5%, said the CMIE. The November 2022 ICS decline comes after two months of robust gains after rising somewhat sharply by 11.4% during the last two festival months.
In its weekly job analysis, CMIE underlined that the correction after the celebrations is understandable. It is important that this correction is comparatively small (0.2%) to the rise (11.4%).
The consolidation of consumer sentiment in November is based on the expectations that the economy will perform well in the near and medium-term future, especially in rural India. In addition, the Index of Current Economic Conditions (ICC) declined 1.6% in November, with a decline of 3.1% in urban India; the decline in rural ICC was more modest.
The ICS seems to have maintained its high level after the festival months, partly due to the onset of the wedding season. The CMIE observers expect this to continue for a few months and keep demand for consumer discretionary high.
Rural India is also promising as sowing of rabi plants appears to be progressing well. Higher production with increased prices for most agricultural products is a good sign, the experts added.
