Households cautiously optimistic

The index of consumer sentiments scaled up by a handsome 7.9 per cent in September

An optimism of sorts is in the air. Perhaps, it is a reflection of an economic turnaround. Recent data suggests that the economy is reviving. Tax collections, foreign trade, electricity generation have all been convincingly and consistently buoyant so far in this fiscal year. Employment conditions and consu­mer sentiments also improved dramatically in September. Further, in the week ended Oc­tober 10, consumer sentiments vaulted by an extraordinary 9.8 per cent. To benchm­ark this, note that the mean weekly change in consumer sentiments has been 0.6 per and the median 0.5 per cent over the past one year. A near-ten per