MUMBAI: Synovate has released data from the Pan Asia Pacific Cross Media Survey, which was conducted in order to give an insight into the lifestyle and spending habits of affluent Asians.

The survey showed a rise in wealth, product and service ownership and improvements in lifestyle across India's affluent residents.

The agency tracked ownership and buying habits of the elite in order to help media organizations and agencies make savvy advertising and marketing decisions.

The Synovate PAX survey tracks media, prosperity and influence in eleven markets across the Asia Pacific region - India, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and Japan.

According to Synovate India director Amit Adarkar, the personal acquisition of big-ticket items to improve self-worth is seeing an upswing among affluent Indians. "In just the last few months, our constantly-updated tracking has enabled us to watch India's elites' overdrive into higher product ownership, increasing purchase intentions and improving lifestyle. The Synovate PAX results for 2005 show that the average monthly household income of India's affluent residents now stands at a very comfortable $1634."

Some of the other findings of the survey are as follows:

• Over the twelve months to end June 2005, business travel has surged by 19 per cent and leisure travel by at least 71 per cent- over the same period last year.
• The ownership of personal quality items in India has grown sometimes phenomenally. Desktop Computers at 32 per cent last year have increased to 39 per cent. Mobile phone penetration among PAX respondents has increased from 51 per cent to 54 per cent. Mobile phones with internet have grown from 42 per cent to 44 per cent. DVD Players have increased from 12 per cent to 25 per cent - a robust 110 per cent increase, over last year. Digital video camera ownership increased from six per cent to 12 per cent; a healthy 92 per cent increase year-on-year. Flat screen TV has grown from 11 per cent to 16 per cent among the top tier audience of India.
• Personal ownership of credit cards has zoomed - from 22 per cent to 33 per cent - a good 51 per cent growth. Car ownership has increased marginally - from 43 per cent to 45 per cent.
• Investing in property and life insurance has seen a decline as compared to the figures of last year.
• Internet access has grown from 27 per cent to 35 per cent - an increase of 28 per cent, among PAX respondents.

Brand-consciousness has increased as patrons prefer to buy well-known brands. At the same time, the PAX elite are willing to experiment when it comes to new products and brands, and do not mind spending a few more bucks, for quality. The elite are constantly turning into product adopters, with India taking the top place when it came to the elite engaging in a race to be the first to buy a new product.

When Synovate quizzed PAX respondents on their future purchase intention, the results were encouraging:

The laundry list included a host of luxury products: Digital video cameras (six per cent), DVD Players (five per cent), Luxury watch- $500+ (two per cent), Laptop / Computer Notebook (four per cent), Designer leather products (three per cent, LCD/ Plasma TV (two per cent), Car (18 per cent), etc.

Overall, the results showed the increasing confidence and purchase intentions across luxury products and technology, indicating a successful year ahead for these items.

"With substantial household wealth, these Indians are rewarding themselves with purchases of quality technology products, consumer items and are bullish about dabbling in stocks/ bonds and funds," Adarkar added.