MAM
India maintains highest national index score despite April 2024 consumer sentiment drop: LSEG-Ipsos PCSI survey
Mumbai: India continues to sit at the top of the consumer confidence index with the highest national index score of 67.0, despite a 5.0 percentage point drop in overall consumer sentiment index in April 2024, according to the LSEG Ipsos primary consumer sentiment index (PCSI).
Among the 29 countries, India (67.0) and Indonesia (65.1) remain the only countries with a National Index score of 60 or higher.
Ten other countries now show a National Index above the 50-point mark: Mexico (59.8), Thailand (57.6), the Netherlands (54.8), Singapore (54.6), Sweden (54.5), the U.S. (53.4), Brazil (53.3), Poland (50.3), Great Britain (50.2) and Australia (50.1).
In contrast, just three countries show a National Index below the 40-point mark: South Korea (39.6), Türkiye (36.8), and Hungary (33.2).
Each month, Ipsos tracks attitudes of consumers in 29 markets on the current and future state of their local economy, their personal financial situation, the employment climate, and their purchasing and investing confidence.
Consumer sentiment lowers in April 2024 for India
The overall or national index has experienced a drop of 5.0 percentage points in April 2024 for India. Further, consumer sentiment has fallen across the 4 sub indices (the PCSI is an aggregation of four weighted sub-Indices) – the PCSI Employment Confidence (“Jobs”) Sub- Index, is down 6.3 percentage points; the PCSI Current Personal Financial Conditions (“Current Conditions”) Sub-Index is down 6.6 percentage points; the PCSI Investment Climate (“Investment”) Sub-Index is down 6.5 percentage points; and the PCSI Economic Expectations (“Expectations”) Sub-Index has a minor drop of 1.5 percentage points.
Summarizing on the findings of the survey, Ipsos India CEO Amit Adarkar said, “India continues to show the highest national index score of 67.0 percentage points despite the drop in consumer sentiment this month. There is lowering of consumer sentiment overall and largely driven by lowering of sentiment for personal finances, investments, jobs and the economy. Consumers are experiencing financial crunch for not only day-to-day running of households but also for savings and investments. We see downgrading of confidence for jobs. End of the financial year for a lot of companies would mean freeze on hiring by India Inc. And it should pick up in May/ June. Further, around this time, the tax burden increases on personal incomes, tightening the tight rope for discretionary spends. Also, it is election time in India. For 2 months no course correction or sops are likely to be announced by the incumbent government.”
Sentiment is largely up throughout Europe. Sweden (+3.6 points), Great Britain (+3.1 points), France (2.8 points), and Spain (+2.5 points) all show significant gains this month. For Sweden, this month’s reading is the country’s highest in nearly two years.
In contrast, sentiment is more mixed in other regions. In the Asia-Pacific region, consumer confidence is up in Thailand (+2.1 points), while India (-5.2 points) shows the largest decline of any country. In Latin America, Argentina (+3.7 points) shows the largest increase among all countries, while sentiment declined sharply in Brazil (-3.5 points).
The Global Consumer Confidence Index is the average of all surveyed countries’ Overall or “National” indices. This month’s installment is based on a monthly survey of more than 21,000 adults under the age of 75 from 29 countries conducted on Ipsos’ Global Advisor online platform. This survey was fielded between 22 March and 4 April 2024.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
