India No.1 in consumer confidence index

For the third consecutive quarter, India has retained the top spot as the most confident nation in Nielsen's Consumer Confidence Index.

India's index points stood at 129 for June-September, the same as in the second quarter (April-June), but marginally higher than what was recorded in Jan-March. In the first quarter, India's index points stood at 121.

On a year-on-year basis, India's index points for the third quarter were higher by nine points, indicating that confidence levels this year are higher in comparison to the year-ago period, when the economy was just beginning to recover from a slowdown.

The domination of the Asia-Pacific and the Middle-Eastern regions in the market research agency's current edition of the Consumer Confidence Index could be seen, with Thailand coming at number two after India with 117 points, followed by Australia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia tied at 115 points, while the Philipines and Singapore stood at number fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

At an overall level, Asia-Pacific was the most confident region at 98 points, followed by the Middle East/Africa at 97 points, Nielsen said.

But Indians were the most optimistic, the market research agency, which has operations in 100 countries, said in a statement.

"More than nine out of ten Indians are optimistic about their job prospects in the next twelve months. This is a percentage point lower than the last leg of the survey, but still India tops the list of countries who think that their job prospects are excellent or good in the next twelve months," Nielsen said.