Muted expectations

Consumer sentiments remained unchanged in September 2017 compared to its level in August. It was 94.54 in both months compared to a base of 100 during September-December 2015. Except for a few months, consumer sentiments remained below the base level through most months since January 2016.

The consumer sentiment index comprise of two sub-indices -- the index of current economic conditions and the index of consumer expectations.

During September 2017, the index of consumer expectations fell by 2.1 per cent after having fallen by 1.2 per cent in August. Consumer expectations have weakened rather sharply in recent weeks. As a