Mumbai:One in every five consumers surveyed in Mumbai and Bengaluru is feeling anxious and barely coping when it comes to finances as a result of COVID-19, a report claimed.
Nearly 64 per cent of consumers surveyed are concerned about their mental health, a Swiss Re COVID-19 Consumer Survey showed.
The findings are based on a survey of 1,000 residents in Mumbai and Bangalore by the Swiss Re Group, a global reinsurer. The survey was conducted by global market research company Ipsos in the last week of May 2020.
A similar survey was conducted in the APAC economies of Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Chinese megacities of Beijing and Shanghai in April.
According to Swiss Re's Head of P&C client markets (India), Amitabha Ray, "We have tried to take a mix of people from Mumbai and Bengaluru precisely because we wanted the sample to be a representation of as many people as possible from different parts of the country, working in these two cities. To that extent, I think it should be okay to say employed people in general behave across the country with the same sort of sentiments."
The survey showed that to make up for the financial strain, many Indian consumers were happy to sacrifice home / motor insurance (28 per cent) while a quarter would cut life insurance premiums (25 per cent) to help ease the burden.