Rising pessimism in India over quality of life under Modi, survey finds

(Reuters): A survey showed that more Indians are becoming less hopeful about their quality of life as stagnant wages and higher living costs cloud future prospects, in disappointing news for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of this week’s annual budget.

More than 37 per cent of respondents in a pre-budget survey said they expect the overall quality of life for ordinary people to deteriorate over the next year, the highest such percentage since 2013, findings released by polling agency C-Voter showed on Wednesday. Modi has been prime minister since 2014.

C-Voter said it polled 5,269 adults across Indian states for this survey. Persistent eye-watering food inflation has squeezed Indian household budgets and crimped spending power, and the world’s fifth-largest economy is expected to post its slowest pace of growth in four years.

Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said inflation had remained unchecked and that prices had gone up since Modi became prime minister, while more than half said the rate of inflation had “adversely” affected their quality of life.

Modi, in the nation’s annual budget this week, is expected to announce measures to shore up faltering economic growth, lift disposable incomes and placate a stretched middle class.

Nearly half of respondents said their personal income had remained the same over the past year while expenses rose, while nearly two-thirds said rising expenses had become difficult to manage, the survey showed.

Despite world-beating economic growth, India’s job market offers insufficient opportunities for its large youthful population to earn regular wages.

In the last budget, India earmarked nearly $24 billion to be spent over five years on various schemes to create jobs but those programmes have not yet been implemented as discussions on the details drag on.