India ranks 5th in consumer confidence among emerging market economies

The latest emerging market consumer survey by Credit Suisse has ranked India at fifth position in terms of consumer confidence. The survey, based on nearly 16,000 face-to-face interviews with consumers across nine emerging economies, highlighted that optimism level in India slipped four percentage points over last year. The list was topped by China, while , Indonesia and Mexico remained at third and fourth position.

The survey stated that confidence among emerging market consumers has deteriorated during the last year with around 26 percent of respondents believing that their personal finances would improve over the next three months as compared to 28 percent a year ago. However, the survey found that there are signs of an underlying improvement, as more people now expect inflation to fall and are increasing spending on items. On area wise, the survey highlighted larger improvement in rural areas than urban in most categories with net balance of people expecting income to rise was (+) 6 percent in rural areas versus (-) 15 percent in urban areas.

In terms of spending categories, the  survey highlighted that there has been more growth in discretionary categories items such as cars and smartphones in 2013. Survey expected that the growth in discretionary categories items to remain firm, alongside other items such as watches and branded goods.