Chennai: India has retained its top position in consumption optimism among key emerging economies in 2018. The yearly ranking by Credit Suisse is based on the expectations on a few metrics, including personal finance, inflation, purchases, income expectation and income history that provide an overall assessment of the mood of the consumer.
Among the emerging economies – India, Brazil, China, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia and Turkey- India retained its top position with strong relative readings on most metrics. Brazil grabbed the second slot from China this time.
"In recent surveys, the prospects for the Asian consumer have stood out as the brightest and we again find India topping our sentiment scorecard supported by positive income characteristics," said Eugene Klerk, Head of Global Thematic Research.
While assessing the state of personal finance over the next six months, income change in last 12 months, consumer purchase in last three to 12 months and purchase intentions for next three to 12 months, India scored much higher than the average metrics among the emerging economies. Inflation expectation was closer to the average. Among consumer items, smartphone consumption was much higher than last year.
Smartphone ownership and Internet access in India has seen a significant increase over past years, with penetration levels rising from about 30 per cent in 2013 to more than 80 per cent in 2018. The surge in Internet access is largely driven by the increased penetration of smartphones and expansion in the mobile data market. As a result of falling smartphone prices, there is an increase in smartphone ownership among the lower- to middle-income groups. At the same time, there has been a step-wise increase in competitive intensity in the Indian telecom market with the aggressive entry of Reliance Jio, which caused mobile data prices to fall even further, finds Credit Suisse.
