To deal with their changed financial circumstances, consumers have changed their behavioural patterns, cutting down on discretionary spends and setting aside more funds for emergencies.
In its Global Insights Report for July/August 2020, Experian said people had been facing challenges to pay for internet/cable services (36%), utility services (35%), credit card bills (33%) and mobile phone bills (32%) and these levels mark a significant increase from pre-Covid levels.
Close to half of Indian consumers — 43% — indicated that their household income had declined since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, credit bureau Experian said on Wednesday. To deal with their changed financial circumstances, consumers have changed their behavioural patterns, cutting down on discretionary spends and setting aside more funds for emergencies.
In its Global Insights Report for July/August 2020, Experian said people had been facing challenges to pay for internet/cable services (36%), utility services (35%), credit card bills (33%) and mobile phone bills (32%) and these levels mark a significant increase from pre-Covid levels. “Consumers have taken significantly stronger actions in almost every possible way to deal with their current financial circumstances; creating/using more personal budget (31%), reducing discretionary spending (25%) and saving more in emergency funds (24%) are the top three actions currently taken,” Experian said in a statement.
Sathya Kalyanasundaram, country head and managing director, Experian India, said the impact of the pandemic had caused both businesses and consumers to shift their priorities. “With social distancing becoming the norm, consumers have had to get out of their comfort zone by letting go of conventional methods and adapting to the digital way of conducting their daily affairs. This also means that banks and financial institutions must be very careful in how they treat consumers in these tough times,” he said. Experian’s data revealed that 54% of customers in India would give an organisation more business if they felt they were treated fairly during the pandemic, higher than the APAC figure of 41%.
Since the start of the pandemic, nearly 40% of businesses in India and Singapore have implemented strategies related to recognising their customers across their various platforms — the highest within the APAC region. Customer authentication solutions receiving the greatest focus involve know-your-customer (50%), security measures in customers’ devices (49%) and multi-factor/two-factor authentication (48%), Experian said.