India retains top spot in global confidence index

03 Feb '16

3 min read

India has retained its position at the top of the global confidence index, performance management company, Nielsen has said.

A Nielsen survey found that Indians were the most confident globally when it came to job prospects, personal finances and immediate spending intentions in the fourth quarter of 2015.

"India continues to lead the global confidence index for the quarter at 131 points, the same as last quarter followed by the Philippines (117), Indonesia (115) and Thailand (114)," the company said in a statement.

The Nielsen consumer confidence index measured perceptions of local job prospects, personal finances and immediate spending intentions among more than 30,000 respondents with internet access in 61 countries.

Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, respectively.

Among the world's largest economies, China's score was 107, up one point from the third quarter, followed by the UK (101), the US (100), Germany (98) and Japan (79), which all showed quarter-on-quarter confidence declines.

"With inflation largely under control and various macro-economic indicators looking positive, the industry is looking at a period of stability after a volatile 2015. This sense of optimism seems to be rubbing off on the Indian consumer, and consumption is expected to get a fillip in the new year," said Nielsen India Region Senior Vice President Roosevelt D'Souza.

According to the survey, four in five (80 per cent) urban Indian respondents indicated the highest level of optimism globally on job prospects, down one percentage point from the previous quarter (81 per cent in Q3 2015).

"Similar trends were seen when respondents were questioned about perceptions on the state of their personal finances over the next 12 months - 82 per cent said it was good or excellent for the quarter," it said.

Job security continued to be the top concern for Indians (20 per cent) although state of the economy (14 per cent) has replaced work-life balance (7 per cent) as the second biggest concern, which is down from 12 per cent in the same quarter last year.

India's recessionary sentiment, on the other hand, is notably high (50 per cent) given their optimistic confidence index score of 131.

In terms of discretionary spending and savings, India once again leads the top ten countries when it comes to perceptions of a whether it's a good/bad time to buy things they want and need over the next 12 months, the survey said. (SH)

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