RBI launches surveys to get inputs for monetary policy

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced the launch of the next round of household surveys to capture inflation expectations and consumer confidence, which provide useful inputs for its monetary policy.

The central bank has been conducting these surveys regularly.

Announcing the launch of the January 2021 round of the Inflation Expectations Survey of Households (IESH), the RBI said it aims to capture subjective assessments on price movements and inflation from about 6,000 households based on their individual consumption baskets across 18 cities.

The cities include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, and Thiruvananthapuram.

”The survey seeks qualitative responses from households on price changes (general prices as well as prices of specific product groups) in the three-month ahead as well as one-year ahead periods and quantitative responses on current, three-month ahead and one-year ahead inflation rates,” it said.

The Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS) seeks qualitative responses from households, regarding their sentiments on the general economic situation, employment scenario, price level, households’ income and spending.

The survey is conducted regularly across 13 cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram. The survey will cover about 5,400 respondents.

The RBI said the result of the surveys provides useful inputs for monetary policy.

The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the rate-setting panel, is scheduled for February 3-5, 2021.

On behalf of the RBI, a Mumbai-based agency will conduct the surveys through face-to-face interviews as well as telephonically, in view of the phase-wise resumption of activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.