Consumer sentiments improved by an impressive 5.7 per cent during the week ended June 18. It is not surprising that the improvement is entirely in rural regions. Rural sentiments improved by 11.1 per cent while urban sentiments declined by 3.4 per cent. A wave of loan waivers or promises of public procurement of agricultural crops at higher prices and more importantly expectations that farm loans will be waived further, have improved rural sentiments.
Farmer agitations have spread beyond Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Correspondingly, rural expectations have risen. The rural index of consumer expectations rose by nine per cent during the
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