India's economic confidence drops; ranks 6th globally: Survey

NEW DELHI: India's economic confidence dropped last month due to plethora of corruption allegations against the Union government ministers and the country is now the sixth most economically confident country in the world after Saudi Arabia, Sweden, China, Canada and Germany.

According to a survey by global research firm Ipsos, India's economic confidence dropped by 2 points to 63 per cent in the month of April, 2013 compared to the month of March, 2013.

The drop in economic confidence of the country was despite the fact the there has been a continuous decline in inflation rate and upbeat investor confidence, Ipsos said.

"Frequent allegations of corruption is revitalising negative public perception among Indians about the state of its economy despite indications that inflation is gradually subsiding and investor are increasing becoming confident about business opportunities in India," Ipsos India CEO Mick Gordon said.

The global assessment of national economies surveyed in 24 countries slipped slightly this month as 36 per cent of global citizens rate their national economies to be 'good', down 1 per cent from last month.

Saudi Arabia (80 per cent) continued to lead the world on national economic assessment, despite seeing a downward trend over the past quarter. It is followed by Sweden (73 per cent), China (72 per cent), Canada (65 per cent), Germany (64 per cent) and India (63 per cent).

Meanwhile, four in 10 Indian citizens (41 per cent) believe that their local economy which impacts their personal finance is good, a marginal rise of 2 points and an optimistic 47 per cent people expect that the economy in their local area will be stronger in next six months.

Gordon further said that Indian economy is expected to grow at around 6 per cent in 2013-14 on account of robust domestic demand, strong savings and growth in private investment rate.

"With food prices expected to remain stable, manufacturing prices weak due to slow growth, and commodity prices stable, inflation is expected to be on a broad downtrend for the next six months and this, we believe, opens up room for more rate cuts by RBI to propel growth," Gordon added.

The online Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World survey was conducted among 18,331 people in 24 countries.