India Rising: the Country Reclaims Top Consumer Confidence Score
Consumer confidence in India increased seven index points to 128 in the second quarter, bumping the country up to the top spot among the 60 countries measured in Nielsen’s Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions. The latest increase surpasses Indonesia (123), which previously held the top spot for five consecutive quarters.
“Consumers in India have indicated increased levels of confidence in the second quarter when the country’s general elections were taking place in the country,” said Piyush Mathur, president, Nielsen India. “This buoyancy is yet to translate into increased consumption across sectors. Despite the ongoing inflationary trend and expectations of a poor monsoon, consumers are likely to open their purse strings as we head into the festive season in response to savvy marketing stimulus.”
In other Asia-Pacific countries, confidence increased in the Philippines (120), South Korea (53) and Malaysia (93) while holding steady in China for a third consecutive quarter at 111.
“In China, per-capita spending continues to grow with the increase of disposable income and as the government transforms the country’s investment-driven growth strategy to one that is consumption led,” said Yan Xuan, president of Nielsen Greater China. “Deepening urbanization serves as another key driver behind the high Chinese consumer confidence level. Half of China’s 1.3 billion people have moved to towns and cities, and the urbanization rate is still low compared with the U.S. and Europe. This translates to millions of new emerging consumers with cash to spend in the coming decade. These consumers share the same aspiration and pursuit for a better life as the existing middle class, and they will put their increasing disposable income to work for them.”
Discretionary saving intentions in the Asia-Pacific region decreased across all categories measured, with the biggest declines for saving (62%) and investing (34%), which dropped 5 and 4 percentage points from the first quarter, respectively. Spending intentions decreased in every category except new technology products, where spending intent increased 2 percentage points to 37 percent.