Money matters

For someone who has been dubbed the most optimistic consumer in the world, the Indian shopper is rather tightfisted. No wild parties, extravagant dinners or designer tags for him.

The Indian shopper would rather make his money work for him, earning interest in the savings account or multiplying at the bourses. The latest round of the survey reveals that the bullish stockmarket has lured back punters who had moved on in the June survey.

Then, interest in the bourses had dropped to 40 per cent; now, 49 per cent Indians say they invest their spare cash in shares and mutual funds. That's the highest figure globally: worldwide, just 17 per cent choose to dabble in shares.

Instead, the most popular option (after the perennial favourite, the bank account) is new clothes, followed by holidays and out-of-home entertainment.

Globally, about 40 per cent consumers leave their money to vegetate in the savings account (52 per cent in India) but, high as that figure is, it doesn't come close to Thailand's 71 per cent, or Singapore and Taiwan's 60 per cent. The top 10 countries that keep their spare cash in the bank are all from Asia, incidentally.

But if the Thais like the bank, they are also first in line for quick getaways: 67 per cent say they would use any spare cash to head off on holiday. The figure for India? Thirty-eight per cent, up from June's 30 per cent. That is more or less in line with the Asian figure (40 per cent) and slightly higher than the global average of 34 per cent.

Indians aren't too keen on clubbing, by the looks of it. Just 28 per cent chose out-of-home entertainment as their option for spending spare cash, compared to the 56 per cent in Vietnam and 54 per cent in Russia. Nor are they likely to splurge on updating their wardrobes: 33 per cent chose this option. That is way behind the Russians, 74 per cent of whom opted for new clothes.

Globally, interest levels in home improvement and decoration remained constant at around 26 per cent.

In the region, it increased two points to 22 per cent while it went up from 30 to 39 per cent in India. That was still not high enough for the country to figure among the top 10 in the world: the leader is Poland, where 51 per cent opted to do up their homes with any spare cash.

Just over 31 per cent in the region and 34 per cent in India said they would buy gadgets and gizmos "" the biggest takers continued to be from Vietnam, where 60 per cent said they would spend their money on new technology.

Perhaps the launch of the Xbox and cutting-edge mobile phones has helped recharge interest in this option.