While it was 127 in last quarter, it’s 129 for this quarter; Indian consumers remain most upbeat in the word despite food prices crisis at home and improving outlooks elsewhere. With a two point increase, at 129 points Consumer Confidence Index is the highest in India in the latest Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Survey followed by Indonesia and Vietnam both 119 index points. While India is ahead for last two quarters, but up till Jan’2010 it was actually Indonesia which was topping the list.
Few other key findings w.r.t.o. Indian Consumers:
- 69% Indians think that we are not currently under economic recession.
- 92% Indians are optimistic about their job prospects in next two months out of which 26% consider their prospect to be excellent whereas 66% consider it to be good.
- 85% consider their state of personal finances in the coming year to be good or above.
- The high confidence levels and state of personal finances give Indians the confidence to spend; 59% are willing and ready to spend money for the things which they would need in next year
After meeting their essential living expenses, Indians love to put their spare cash into Savings. More than six out of ten Indians put their spare cash into savings. At 63 %, savings has become dearer to Indians by three percent compared to the last survey. India ranks 7th globally which puts spare cash into savings.
Next in the list for investment is Shares of stock/ mutual funds. Nearly half the Indian consumers (46%) invest in stock. The percentage of Indians investing in the stock market has gone up by three percent compared to the last round of the survey and is the 3rd highest percentage for a country investing in the shares.
Indians are a cautious clan when it comes to planning for their retirement. 23 % Indians put their spare cash into Retirement funds. This is the 4th highest percentage globally, who put spare cash into retirement funds.
And it’s not all about savings in India, our people love to spend their spare cash on Holidays/ vacations too (38%), followed by New technology products (36% – 6th highest globally), New clothes (34%), Paying off debts / credit cards / loans (30%), Home improvements / decorating (29%), and Out of home entertainment (28%).
So Indians are back on a spending spree, with most activities registering a n upward growth percentage as compared to the last survey. Though the figures have changed for India positively but global recovery has actually been slower than expected. The global consumer confidence has moved down one index point to 93 in the second quarter as confidence increases in booming Asian markets were offset by European consumers’ growing concerns of an escalating debt crisis, which battered confidence levels in Spain, Italy and France.
This quarter of Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Survey was conducted between May 10 and May 26, 2010 and polled approximately 27, 000 consumers in 48 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America about their confidence levels and economic outlook. The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is developed based on consumers’ confidence in the job market, status of their personal finances and readiness to spend. The sample has quotas based on age and sex for each country based on their Internet users, and is weighted to be representative of Internet consumers and has a maximum margin of error of ±0.6%.
Source: Via
