75% of Urban Indians believe India is on right track in January 2023

The January 2023 wave of Ipsos What Worries the World global survey shows India is the 3rd most optimistic market across the 29 markets polled with 75% citizens believing India is moving in the right direction. Global citizens were somewhat downbeat with at least 60 per cent stating their country is on wrong track.

The markets most optimistic were Saudi Arabia (96%) and Indonesia (82%). And the lowest in the pecking order and least optimistic were, Argentina (12%), South Africa (17%) and Peru (21%). 

“Urban Indians are optimistic about how India is doing as a country. India has been on a steady 

footing, cautiously managing through tough macro-economic conditions and the pandemic, these last few years. Also, domestic consumption has been steering the economy and timely actions on the fuel crisis and inflation have reduced burden on citizens. This wave was done before the Union Budget was tabled on February 1st. With a slew of measures to reduce the tax burden on the middle class, in the Budget, optimism could further improve next month,” says Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.      

What worries Indians & Global Citizens in January 2023? 

Indians are beset with a new set of worries with coronavirus back in the top list and corruption receding. Though Unemployment continues to be the topmost worry.

Top worries of Urban Indians in January 2023

Unemployment (38%)

Coronavirus (26%)

Crime & Violence (26%)

Poverty & Social inequality (24%)

Financial/ Political Corruption (24%)

Global worries

“Indians continue to worry about jobs and unemployment. This wave was conducted before the Budget 2023 was unveiled, which has some concrete big steps for skilling and employment generation. Hence, we could see the worry levels recede in the next wave. Coronavirus has made a reappearance in the top worry list of Indians, and we should take precautionary measures to ensure inbound travellers are well screened. Outbound as well. Crime is another area of concern, so is social inequality. Corruption has moved lower in the pecking order after being the 2nd biggest worry for a long time. Since there is a lag in the survey wave, Feb wave will present a more realistic picture,” Adarkar added.

Ipsos’ What Worries the World survey tracks public opinion on the most important social and political issues across 29 countries today, drawing on over ten years of data to place the latest scores in context.

Indians placed least on Inflation

While Inflation continued to sit as the top global worry in January 2023, India was at the bottom of the heap on Inflation. The markets most impacted were Argentina (69%), Poland (67%) and Turkey (60%).