India's consumer confidence to remain high over next 6 months, market 'very optimistic': Mastercard survey

New Delhi: Consumer confidence in India is likely to remain high over the next six months with a very optimistic outlook, according to a survey. “Consumer confidence in India remains high with consumers indicating a very optimistic outlook over the next six months,” Mastercard Index of Consumer Confidence (H2 2017) revealed on Thursday. Consumer confidence in India has remained stable at 84.6 points over the last six months and the market rated a “very optimistic” sentiment for four out of five components – employment, economy, regular income and stock market, it said. Outlook towards quality of life in India remains high, Mastercard said, with stable growth from the previous index findings. Bangladesh (80.4 points) and Vietnam (89.5 points) were two other countries in Asia Pacific where the markets have exhibited a very optimistic sentiment, it said. [caption id=“attachment_4147477” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] On the other hand, Sri Lanka at 39.5 points exhibited least optimistic market with declines in confidence towards quality of life (-4 points) and economy (-3.2 points). Also, consumer confidence amongst people over 30 has outpaced those in the under 30 segments in Singapore (+11 points vs + 5.3 points) and China (+5.7 vs +0.4 points). In Singapore, a rising ageing population, as well as growing optimism towards the economy, income and employment have contributed to this observation, Mastercard said. According to the survey, overall in Asia Pacific, rising economic growth, increased travel and greater intra-regional economic cooperation fuelled the regions confidence at 68.5 points. “The Index indicates that Asia Pacific millennials (aged 18?29 years) are very confident about the next six months (72.9 points), while the older generation (aged 30 and above) are tempered in their outlook towards the future (66.7 points).” Also, optimism across both age groups in the region has increased since the latter half of 2016. Consumers above 30 years tracked a 6.3 point jump in optimism, while people aged below 30 years tracked a 5 point lift, as per the survey. “These lifts are reflected across buoyant consumer sentiment towards the stock market, employment and economic performance,” it said further. The Mastercard Index of Consumer Confidence measures consumer sentiments across five components: economy, employment, stock market, regular income and quality of life. The methodology for the survey was based on respondents replies on six month outlook on the economy, employment prospects, stock market performance, regular income prospects and quality of life. The results of the responses were converted in five component indexes which were subsequently averaged to form the Mastercard Index of Consumer Confidence (MICC) score. Mastercard, which has been doing this survey since 1993, said the survey is the most comprehensive and longest running of its kind in the Asia Pacific region.