Consumer confidence dips: Mastercard study

A survey on consumer confidence by Mastercard International shows a slight decrease in consumer confidence in India. The country's MasterIndex rating fell from 63.5 in February this year to 58.0 in early September, out of a possible index of 100.

The Consumer Confidence survey was conducted across the South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) region. These are India, South Africa, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The survey analyses consumers' perceptions on economic conditions over the next six months in seven selected markets in the region.

The scores are based on respondent answers to questions related to five factors including employment, economy, regular income, stock market and quality of life.

Vice president of Mastercard International (south Asia), Nitin Gupta said Mastercard has clubbed India with the SAMEA region from 2003. Earlier, the country was with Asia Pacific region.

According to him, the fall in Indian consumer confidence is attributed to consumers being much less positive on two factors "" quality of life and economy, with index scores falling by 21.0 per cent and 4.1% respectively.

Regular income scores have also shown a dip of 0.6 per cent. Sentiments on employment improved by 3.8 per cent, but are still considered pessimistic. Incidentally, Mastercard conducts the survey mainly for its member banks. It has currently 30 member banks in India.

Pointing to the importance of this survey, Gupta said that consumer confidence is of prime importance in financial business and for payment gateways like Mastercard and others.

"MasterIndex is a unique initiative that truly exemplifies MasterCard's thought leadership in the global payments industry. I feel, the survey is a very interesting way of studying and understanding consumer sentiments, across the region. The MasterIndex survey helps our member financial institutions to understand their customers better. It is also a useful tool in anticipating future market trends and devising better business strategies with which to meet them," said Gupta.

According to the study, of the seven countries researched in the region, Saudi Arabia has led the way with a highly optimistic score of 98.4, followed closely by Kuwait (90.6) and United Arab Emirates (83.0). Overall consumer confidence in Egypt and Lebanon remains as low as the previous period with 37.0 and 32.5 scores respectively.

Consumer sentiment in the SAMEA Region as a whole improved slightly rising from 65.8 to 69.8 in the first half of 2004.. Gupta informed that the MasterIndex was originally introduced in the Asia Pacific region and has grown in relevance and reputation over the past decade.

"The survey has proven to be an excellent barometer of the general consumer pulse in Asia Pacific and today is much sought after by analysts, academics, and decision-makers in financial institutions, government agencies and multinational organizations," he added.