Consumer Confidence in India has finally started to reflect the sentiments of consumers in the rest of the world. With a 15 point drop in its Nielsen consumer confidence index, India ranked third with 99 points, behind Indonesia which topped the Confidence rankings with 104 points and Denmark, which came second with 102 points in the latest round of Nielsen global consumer confidence study. India ranked #1 in the Nielsen consumer confidence ranking in the last round of the survey in October 2008.
A twice yearly study, the Nielsen global consumer confidence survey tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits among 25,140 Internet users in 50 countries.
“The current economic state has a direct impact on confidence levels of consumers. In recent times consumers have experienced an onslaught of bad news in the form of job cuts, company profit plummeting, bankruptcies and foreclosures, which has led to a reduction in consumer confidence and people’s spending power,” said Vatsala Pant, associate director, consumer research, The Nielsen Company, India.
The latest Nielsen global consumer confidence survey, (conducted 19 March – 2 April 2009), saw consumer confidence across countries take a beating, falling seven Index points from 84 to 77 in the latest round of the survey. Consumer confidence fell in 49 out of the 50 countries surveyed; Taiwan was the only country to buck the global trend, edging up three points from 60 to 63.
Though, consumer confidence has dropped in India, it is also true that most respondents remain quite optimistic about the situation changing in the next twelve months. 56 percent of Indians think the country will be out of economic recession in the next twelve months — the second highest percentage for a country globally, behind Vietnam with 60 per cent — which thinks their country will be out of an economic recession in the next twelve months.
— IndiaRetailing Bureau
