Indian consumers no longer the most confident

Indian consumers are no longer the most confident in the world, dipping from the number one slot for the first time since 2005.

This is the finding of the ACNielsen Consumer Confidence and Opinions Survey for the second half of 2007, the results of which have been made available exclusively in today's edition of The Strategist, Business Standard's weekly management and marketing section.

Consumer confidence in India dropped two points to 133, taking it to the second place behind Norway, where upbeat consumers have caused the index to climb two points to 135.

The 48-nation global index and the 14-country Asia Pacific regional index have also dropped three and four points, respectively, to settle at 94 and 92 points.

India had been the most confident nation in the previous five rounds of the bi-annual survey and the country's score of 137 in the October 2006 round of the survey was an all-time high.

Conducted in November 2007, the ACNielsen survey covered over 26,000 people, including more than 500 people from India. Despite the overall drop in confidence, 95 per cent Indians are optimistic about employment prospects, compared to the regional and global averages of 49 and 50 per cent, respectively.

Indian consumers' perceptions of the state of their personal finances are also encouraging "" 88 per cent rate it as excellent or good (region: 50 per cent).

The survey polled consumers on the possibility of a global recession in the coming year. Indian consumers' response is roughly along the same lines as their global and regional counterparts "" 27 per cent think there will be a recession, while 46 per cent disagree.

Meanwhile, fears about the economy appear to have abated "" there is a 16 percentage point decline in Indians citing it as a major worry (30 per cent). But concerns over political stability, global warming and terrorism still remain high.

Across Asia, 56 per cent are concerned about the economy, compared to 44 per cent worried about health and 34 per cent about job security, higher than the global averages.

The survey also studies how spare cash is utilised after covering necessary living expenses. Indians continue to invest in stocks and mutual funds (51 per cent), but the savings account is a more popular option (54 per cent). Holidays and new clothes remain in third and fourth place.