Indians continue to ride on a confidence high

EXPERT OPINION

Terrorism remain the biggest worry for most in the country.

India continues to ride high on strong consumer confidence, with the country leading ACNielsen's 45-country consumer confidence index for the fourth half in a row, scoring an all-time-high index of 137.

Following Indians, on the second and third place are Norwegians (134) and Danes (129). Other markets worth watching are Vietnam, which recorded a double-digit increase in its index from 106 in June 2006 to 116 this time round, and Thailand, achieving an index of 107, representing the highest increase of 12 points from the last index.

There is no doubt that India is riding the crest of an economic boom. Recording the highest confidence index once again reaffirms the solid performance of the market in terms of economic growth, job prospects and the booming young adult population, who will soon become the major driving force in the global economy.

Vietnam is another market to watch, as the country's entry into the WTO starts to impact, along with a rapidly-growing workforce and rising income levels. There is simply huge potential to be found in Vietnam, a country with the world's 13th largest population, with more than 50 per cent of them under the age of 30.

Indian optimism
Indians are exceedingly bullish about the job market (95 per cent rating it excellent or good) as well as the state of their personal finances in the next year (88 per cent).

On the other hand, the world's least optimistic markets hail mostly from Europe, although South Koreans (56) remain at the bottom of the list. Across Asia Pacific, Japan and Taiwan are among the least optimistic, recording an index of 71 and 80 respectively.

Major concerns
While confidence has sustained globally, consumers across the globe continue to cite the economy (39 per cent), health (34 per cent) and job security (32 per cent) as their major concerns over the coming six months, although the level of concern for the economy and health has declined moderately since the first half of 2006.

But for Indians, it is the increase in terrorist attacks that has made terrorism (31 per cent) one of the largest concern areas. Though globally, only 15 per cent of the consumers considered terrorism a major concern, led by India (31 per cent), the UK (26 per cent), and Denmark (25 per cent).

Looking at the way terrorism has hit the country in the past months, be it Mumbai or the north-east, say, Guwahati, or for that matter, the Kashmir valley, it surely is a big concern the country is facing.

Though the country's intelligence and security forces are trying their best to curb this menace and have already beefed up security in public places, it remains an area of major concern among Indians.

It's time that even individual shop-owners, service providers and so on take it on themselves to make their establishments foolproof with proper security systems in place, so as to provide shoppers and consumers a secure environment.

Utilising spare cash
For Indians, the best way to utilise spare cash has been investment in shares and mutual funds. From 40 per cent in the last cycle, it is now 49 per cent of the Indian consumers who are willing to invest in shares and mutual funds.

In fact, India has the most number of consumers willing to take the share market route. Next in the list is the urge to indulge in home improvement and decoration (39 per cent) and to buy new clothes (33 per cent).

For the past few years, booming economy has made spare cash available in the hand of Indian consumers, and unlike old days, today's consumer wants to live life to its fullest and what best way to improve the standard of living other than improving the home and going for new clothes.

Home and clothes are extension of one's personality and Indians now are not ready to compromise but game to exhibit to the world, a flamboyant, high-quality living that now they can afford.

Worried about health
Health remains one of the top concerns for a third of world consumers, but the level of concern has declined substantially for Europe, despite six of the top 10 most concerned markets originating from the region.

Hungary, which topped the world as the most concerned about health in the first half of 2006, has been overtaken by China as the world's most concerned about health (67 per cent) this time round, followed by Czechs (51 per cent) and Finns (49 per cent).