Festival Season Demand Fuel Growth, Making India Most Optimistic Country in the World: Ipsos Study

India continues to be the most optimistic country in the world with 61 percent Indians expecting that its economy will be stronger in the next six months due to boost in consumer spending during the ongoing festival season fueling growth, according to a report by global research firm Ipsos. According to the “Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World” study, India's economic confidence level has moved up to 72 percent in August 2014, a significant rise of 7 points making India 4th most economically confident country in the world after Saudi Arabia, Germany and China.

Almost half 47 percent Indians believe that the local economy which impacts their personal finance is good, a rise of 3 points. “With the festival season on, early signs of recovery in automobile, retail, real estate, consumer durable and jewelry industry is clearly visible according to Industry data publicly available,” said Amit Adarkar, Managing Director, Ipsos in India.

“Home sales and consumer goods purchases would show stronger gains on account of better job prospects, higher household incomes and rising optimism about India’s economic prospects. This will further increase demand in the consumer discretionary sector, thus strong domestic demand would continue to drive overall growth,” added Adarkar.

The online Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World survey was conducted in August 2014 among 18,056 people in 24 countries. After holding steady for four month, the average global economic assessment of national economies surveyed in 24 countries is up one point as 40% of global citizen’s rate their national economies to be ‘good’.

Same players occupy the top five, with Saudi Arabia (85%) once again leading the national economic assessment with a wide margin, followed by Germany (75%), China (73%), India (72%) and Sweden (70%). European countries once again spearhead the bottom of the assessment, with just handfuls in these countries rate their national economies as ‘good’: France (6%), Romania (7%), Italy (8%), Spain (11%), and South Korea (15%).

Countries with the greatest improvements in this wave:  Russia (59%, +9 pts.), India (72%, +7 pts.), Turkey (49%, +5 pts.), China (73%, +4 pts.), Egypt (61%, +4 pts.) and Great Britain (45%. +4pts).
Countries with the greatest declines: Sweden (70%, -3 pts.), Romania (7%, -3 pts.), Saudi Arabia (85%, -3 pts.), Germany (75%, -2 pts.), Canada (68%, -2pts), Mexico (24%, -2pts), Hungary (18%, -2pts) and France (6%, -2 pts.).

Rebounding Saudi Arabia (62%) once again leads the local economy assessment ratings , followed by China (53%), Germany (52%), Sweden (51%), Canada (47%), India (47%), and Australia (39%). Romania (8%) slips into the lowest position, followed by Italy (8%), Spain (9%), France (10%), Hungary (13%), Japan (13%) and South Korea (14%).

With Brazil (57%) experiencing a decline, India (61%) takes the top spot in the future outlook assessment rating. The rest of the highest-ranking countries are: Saudi Arabia (55%), Egypt (54%), China (42%), Argentina (35%) Russia (34%) and Turkey (29%).  France (3%) remains at the bottom of the pack, followed by Belgium (10%), Hungary (11%), Japan (12%), Italy (12%) South Korea (12%), Poland (13%) and Sweden (14%).