India second in global consumer confidence: Survey

DUBAI: Indians have the second most optimistic attitude on the current world financial crisis after Norway, according to a global survey on consumer confidence levels.

One in two Indians, 45 per cent of Vietnamese and around a third of Russians and Chinese expect the global recession to end within a year, according to survey on global consumer confidence concerns, spending and attitudes to recession.

In India, home to world's second most confident consumers, employment rates will rise in inverse proportion to the developed world, thanks to enthusiastic adoption of workforce optimisation-" outsourcing bug", according to the survey.

The UAE has been ranked the fifth most optimistic nation in the latest the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index, preceded by India and Denmark. "Despite being affected by the current global conditions, consumers in the UAE and other developing markets are aware that their medium-to-long-term prospects remain strong," said Piyush Mathur, Regional Managing Director, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, The Nielsen Company.



Out of 52 countries surveyed, UAE consumers ranked third most optimistic for their local job prospects and state of their personal finances. "Consumer confidence in UAE remains quite stable as the economy is driven by strong domestic growth particularly in the FMCG and retail sector," observed Mathur.

"This indicates high single-digit real growth even after inflation and population growth are factored in."

Consumer confidence in the UAE dropped by only one index point in the past six months.

Many countries experienced double-digit declines in consumer confidence in the past year including the US, UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.