India ranks 5th in terms of consumer confidence: Report

In terms of consumer confidence among emerging market economies, India has been ranked fifth in a list that was topped by China, says a Credit Suisse report.
According to the latest emerging consumer survey by Credit Suisse in partnership with global market research firm Nielsen, confidence among emerging market consumers has deteriorated during the last year.
Around 26 per cent of of respondents believe that their personal finances would improve over the next three months as compared to 28 per cent a year ago.
Meanwhile, optimism level in India has also slipped four percentage points over last year and India was ranked fifth in the list. Among others, Indonesia was ranked third in the list, followed by Mexico.

However, beneath the headline readings, there are signs of an underlying improvement, as more people believe this is a good time to purchase big ticket items and more people now expect inflation to fall, the report said.
Rural areas seeing a much bigger improvement than urban in most categories. The net balance of those expecting income to rise rather than fall was (+) 6 per cent in rural areas versus (-) 15 per cent in urban areas.

In terms of spending categories, there has been more growth in discretionary categories such as smartphones and cars in 2013.
However, the improving trend is expected to continue going forward, alongside areas such as watches and branded goods. More generally, trading up seems to be the theme. People are buying smartphones rather than conventional mobiles and fewer people bought entry-level cars.

"The survey is particularly timely given the currency and stock market pressures some of the Emerging Markets surveyed are currently experiencing," Credit Suisse's Global Head of Research for Private Banking and Wealth Management Giles Keating said.
For this report, nearly 16,000 face-to-face interviews with consumers across nine economies were conducted. These include: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey South Africa and Mexico.