Reuters

Mumbai: Consumer confidence in India has fallen steeply since November last year, a global marketing information firm said on 24 June.

The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, which measures consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits in 51 countries, has dropped by 11 points to 122, The Nielsen Company said in a statement.

Despite the drop in consumer confidence, India was globally ranked second just behind Norway in the index. “Indian consumers continue to be the most confident in the region,” the company said in the statement.

At least 58% of Indians in the survey do not think the country was in an economic recession, of which 38% thought a global recession was likely to hit India in the next 12 months, Nielsen said.

Inflation was the biggest concern for 69% of the consumers, followed by unemployment, interest rate rises, political instability, falling property prices, civil conflicts and strikes, the survey showed.

Indians were the second-most optimistic people with respect to the job market, it said, adding that 86% of the reposndents had marked career prospects as excellent or good.

Still, higher inflation has taken its toll on spending on home improvements and new technology as they have dropped by three and two percentage points in the survey, Nielson said.

India’s headline inflation has shot above 11% in early June to a 13-year high following a rise in state-set fuel prices, rattling markets and prompting the finance minister to warn of stronger anti-inflation measures ahead.