Budget 2023-24: Survey says 60% households expect dip in earnings

Ahead of the Union Budget on February 1, more than half of households expect a decline in their income by up to 25 per cent as well as dip in savings, and are looking for relief in the coming budget. This has come to light in a survey conducted online across 309 districts, said online platform LocalCircles on Sunday.

The survey, conducted between November 25 and January 25, found that with job losses and hiring sentiment turning negative, 52 per cent respondents feel that the economic uncertainty will persist for the next 6-12 months.

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LocalCircles claimed that 37,000 responses were received from household consumers across 309 districts of India, comprising 64 per cent men, 36 per cent women from tier 1, tier 2 and smaller towns as well.

“Our survey indicates that majority households in the country are facing the squeeze and in community discussions thousands of inputs were received by LocalCircles about lowering income tax rates or increasing deductions and exemptions,” LocalCircles founder Sachin Taparia said.

The number of responses to each question varied. In response to questions on expected change in income, 7 per cent households projected a 25 per cent drop in annual income during the current fiscal, 22 per cent projected a 10-15 per cent drop, 10 per cent projected a drop of up to 10 per cent and 21 per cent felt their income will reduce but they were uncertain about the scale.

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Fifty six per cent household consumers surveyed believe their average household savings will reduce during the current fiscal while only 19 per cent households expect an increase, according to the survey.

In response to questions around economic uncertainty, 52 per cent out of over 13,000 respondents expressed that they expect economic uncertainty to last 6-12 months while 23 per cent expected the uncertainty to last 3-6 months in 2023,  6 per cent felt uncertainty may last up to 3 months while 19 per cent were not sure about it.

(With Agency inputs)