Public CompanyIndonesia pips India to lead consumer confidence index
Recovery from the global economic downturn is faster in India compared with other countries in the world as consumers here are more willing to spend, says a survey.
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According to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence survey, India ranked second with 117 points in the fourth quarter of 2009, behind Indonesia, which has 119 points.
Globally Consumer Confidence has remained stable at 87 per cent.
Apart from India and Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Brazil are the other countries where recovery is accelerating.
The survey revealed that countries have witnessed "renewed Willingness to spend by many consumers as they head into 2010".
However, while eight of the top 10 most confident markets in the fourth quarter of 2009 were from Asia Pacific, including emerging markets Indonesia and India, consumers in two of Asia"s most developed markets, South Korea and Japan, were the least confident.
In the last quarter of 2009, Indian consumers have become more conscious of a full economic recovery in a year.
Indias are most optimistic about job prospects in 2010, with 83 per cent of the consumers feeling things would improve this year. India is followed by Indonesian at 70 per cent.
About 17 per cent Indians think that job prospects in the country would be "excellent" and 66 per cent think that it would be "good" in the next 12 months.
The survey also shows that in the past six months, consumers have become more optimistic about their countries emerging from recession with better job prospects and personal finances. This is another sign that shows global economic recovery is heading in the right direction.
The survey said, Brazil (ranked 3rd) and Canada (10th) were the only countries outside Asia to make the list of top 10. The United Arab Emirates posted the biggest fall in consumer confidence due to the result of the Dubai financial meltdown towards the end of 2009.
However, things are slightly glum where personal finances are concerned. The percentage of Indians who are optimistic about the state of their personal finances in the next 12 months has gone down by 3 per cent to 78 per cent.
Indian consumers have become cautious over their discretionary spending. At the same time, Indians have become more watchful of investing in the stock market.
The Nielsen report revealed that increasing food prices was the biggest concern for about (17 per cent) for Indians in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Other concerns bothering Indians were - terrorism and children"s education, health and parent"s welfare and happiness, debt and increasing utility bills, political stability and increasing fuel prices.
The Nielsen, which tracked consumer confidence, spending habits conducted the survey among 17,500 people in 29 markets between December 4 and 18, 2009.