Will non-metros propel India’s recovery?

While COVID -19 has impacted overall consumption, non-metros have shown higher resilience and are expected to recover faster.

The EY report ‘Will non-metro markets propel India's recovery?’, reveals a higher percentage of respondents from non-metro markets expect to spend more than before on several categories compared to metro markets indicating that when the lockdown ends, green shoots of recovery would probably sprout faster from the non-metro markets.

The survey covered a varied demographic mix of more than 4,000 respondents (2,000 each from metro and non-metro markets) to understand the potential impact of the pandemic from the consumer sentiment perspective. It covered key aspects linked to the current and expected attitudes, behaviors and spending trends of consumers as they adapt to the new reality.

Some of the key highlights of the report are: 

• While COVID-19 has impacted overall consumption, categories like health (household products, hygiene products, vitamins and supplements, etc.) and online services (gaming, home entertainment, online education, online banking etc.) are expected to benefit.
• Digital trials increased significantly during the lockdown periods. However, adoption continues to be higher for metros as compared to non-metros.
• Non metro respondents stated lack of knowledge of how to use digital services, absence of smart phones and fewer language interfaces as some of the obstacles they faced. While newspapers continue to remain the most trusted news source.
• Time spent on digital and electronic media is expected to increase on account of COVID -19. COVID -19 could have some significant and even permanent change to consumption patterns.
• Our study of alternative consumption options indicates that more people will consume in home entertainment as compared to out of home entertainment options for some time to come, for example. Other interesting analysis include staples vs. luxury products, transportation options, etc.
• Newspapers continue to remain the most trusted news source. 42% respondents in non-metro markets spend more than 20 mins in reading a newspaper compared to 36% in metros.