Rising inflation continues to impact Indian households: Kantar

livemint.com:

New Delhi: Indian households continue to feel the strain of high inflation, with households most vulnerable to price hikes reporting a significant reduction in purchase of products like jams, ready-to-cook foods, floor cleaners and soft drinks, according to recent household data released by Kantar. The data reveals that households most affected by inflation are buying less kilogram of daily goods compared to others and are making frequent trips to the grocery store as they struggle to manage their monthly budgets effectively.

Kantar surveyed 6,000 shoppers measuring the impact of inflation on their consumption, tracking their consumption of staples and discretionary products between May 2021 and April 2023, splitting the period into pre-inflation (May-December 2021), inflationary period (January-August 2022) and post-inflation period (September-April 2023). Although there are signs of revival in household consumption levels, as inflation levels moderate, they have not yet returned to pre-inflation levels, it said.

India’s consumer price inflation stood at 4.3% in May, cooling down from 6.5% at the beginning of the year. Kantar identified three groups of households—those highly impacted by inflation, moderately impacted and least impacted by inflation.

“Least impacted shoppers are pulling up consumption on account of increased trips to the store. While maximum categories have been impacted among highly impacted households, certain degree of rationalization was seen even among low impacted households," it said.