Cars, shampoo and travel tell tale of India's slowing consumption

The bellwether consumer goods sector has been hard hit, especially given distress in rural India where incomes have been subdued

India’s consumers are being tested after helping drive the fastest-growing major economy.More cautious spending on everything from shampoo to cars and travel threaten to weaken what’s been the backbone of the economy,  contributing about three-fifths of gross domestic product. The pullback has acted as a drag on growth, which is predicted to have slowed for a fourth consecutive quarter to 6.5% in the three months to March, the weakest pace since mid-2017 and almost on par with China.

While official GDP numbers for the March quarter are due May 31, high-frequency data for services and manufacturing point to activity slowing