The Conference Board conducts a poll called the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), which gauges how hopeful or pessimistic consumers are about their future financial status. 

The CCI, which is issued on the last Tuesday of every month, is largely considered as the most reliable indicator of consumer confidence in the United States. It is essentially a gauge of how well the American economy is doing and is based on how consumers perceive the present business and job climate as well as what they anticipate for these factors over the coming six months.

Nielsen, a leading global provider of data and analytics on consumers’ viewing and purchasing patterns, conducts CCI.

The CCI is founded on the idea that cheerful people would spend more and boost the economy, whereas pessimistic customers’ purchasing habits may cause a slowdown or recession.

According to the Refinitiv-Ipsos India Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI), which was issued on Thursday, consumer confidence among urban Indians showed a little improvement with an increase of 0.8 percentage points in July.

The four sub-indices that make up the monthly primary consumer sentiment index together describe how a group of consumers feel about their jobs, economic outlook, investment environment, and personal financial circumstances.

“Consumer sentiment has bounced back after last month’s drop, and we see recovery around personal finances and investments, which means consumers are flush with funds for not only running their household expenses but also have funds for investments in big ticket purchases and savings. This buoyancy should make marketers happy. We also see some recovery around jobs,” Amit Adarkar, chief executive, Ipsos India, said.

Ipsos described the July index as a “mixed bag”. While the economic expectations sub-index fell 2.4 percentage points, the PCSI investment sub-index rose 1.7 percentage points, and the PCSI personal financial conditions sub-index rose 2.0 percentage points over the past month, the PCSI jobs sub-index has barely budged.

But he said that consumers still have some reservations regarding the state of the economy.

Since March, Ipsos India has extended their offline sample from only netizens to include 1,800 offline respondents in addition to 400 online respondents, encompassing 16 cities. The poll has a higher proportion of urban residents.