India better than Russia, Brazil: survey

India is perceived by media around the world as having stronger prospects for over five years and as being in a different class from other emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, Poland and Mexico.

A first ever global study of media perceptions of India, however, suggests the need for planned and sustained communications that take India beyond the "outsourcing" label.

The study was conducted by Edelman and its India partner R&PMC with journalists in 10 major cities cross the United States, Europe and Asia.

India's "share of voice" in the US media is dwarfed by China, which has a 3-1 advantage over India.

The contrast gets even more striking, as an analysis of content shows that one out of every four stories on India is about outsourcing, whereas only one out of every sixteen stories on China is about outsourcing.

India is perceived as excelling in high tech (96 per ent of those interviewed), software (44 per cent), textiles (40 per cent), pharmaceutical sector (32 per cent), call centres (17 per cent), automotive (16 per cent) and consumer products (16 per ent).

The survey indicates that India needs to emphasise its strong management expertise, transparency, corporate governance and leadership role in corporate social responsibility.

Media perceptions indicate that emerging markets are closing in on India's dominance in BPO and posing a threat with the Philippines offering a lower cost structure, Mexico and Canada offering greater proximity to the US, and Ireland and South Africa being closer to Europe.