65% of consumers in city lost income due to Covid-19: Survey

Bengaluru was the second most impacted city in India in terms of loss of income and loan repayment capacity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a consumer insights report has revealed. Delhi-NCR was the most impacted, with 70% of resident participants reporting a negative impact on income.

The survey by Paisabazaar.com, a digital marketplace for lending products, covered over 8,500 of its consumers in the age group of 24 to 57 from over 35 cities. Respondents with a debt of Rs 1 lakh or more took part in the survey, titled “Dealing with Debt: How India Plans to Pay EMIs”.

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Over 86% of the self-employed respondents reported a loss in income due to Covid-led restrictions. More than a fourth said their income had come to nil due to the pandemic and the lockdown. A high 56% of salary earners also reported a negative impact, while 12% reported job loss and zero income sources, the survey revealed.

In Bengaluru, over 65% of respondents reported a negative impact on income due to the pandemic; 12% had lost their income completely. “Around 90% of self-employed Bengaluru residents and 61% of the salaried segment from the city suffered income loss,” the survey revealed.

A large section of customers from Bengaluru who had taken the moratorium were those whose income was not impacted and had the repayment capacity.

“While there was a widespread impact on consumers in the first two to three months of the pandemic, we believe there has been a steady recovery since July. With the economy beginning to get back to its feet, incomes of customer segments employed in deeply impacted industries such as travel, aviation, entertainment and hospitality should start getting restored gradually,” says Naveen Kukreja, co-founder, Paisabazaar.com.

In Delhi-NCR, 70% of resident participants reported a negative impact on income. However, in terms of the percentage of customers who had a complete loss of income, Mumbai was the worst placed, with 26% of respondents reporting income plummeting to nil. Also, Mumbai had the highest percentage of moratorium takers at 65%.