Urban Indians financial priorities focussed on home, family: Report

As the COVID-19 pandemic left many out of work, stuck at home and facing uncommon financial strains across the globe, a report has shown that saving money and protecting their families are the top financial priorities of urban Indians in 2021.

Two in five urban Indians (40 per cent respondents) consider saving money for unexpected hardships as their top financial priority in 2021, according to the report by global research firm YouGov.

Apart from saving, a little over a third (35 per cent) of urban Indians want to ensure they protect themselves and their families in case of emergencies while 27 per cent look forward to fulfilling their regular financial commitments in the new year, it stated.

The ''On the Money: YouGov's Global Banking and Finance report 2021'' is based on an online survey in 17 global markets done among 19,000 respondents, including 1,000 in India,during second week of November 2020.

Further, the report showed that paying off debts and accumulating money for retirement are at a lower priority for Indians this year at 22 per cent.

In general, saving for retirement appears to be the lowest priority for 2021, in all markets except Hong Kong (31 per cent) and Singapore (33 per cent), it noted.

Apart from the bigger financial targets, investment is a big priority for Asian countries such as Indonesia and Hong Kong (37 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively), Singapore (29 per cent) and China (28 per cent).

In India, a quarter of urban Indians interviewed (25 per cent) are likely to make money by investing it in 2021, it noted.

Meanwhile, buying a home is not a top priority in most of the surveyed markets but in India, one in seven (14 per cent) plan to purchase a home or property this year.

The importance of purchasing assets (such as car and furniture) is also high in India (15 per cent), along with China (18 per cent) and Denmark (16 per cent), as compared to the rest of the world.

Returning to pre-pandemic spending habits is more of a priority in many European nations but in India, less than one in 10 (9 per cent) consider it important, notably because saving seems to be the main goal this year, it said.

When asked about their household situation in the last six months, almost half of urban Indians (49 per cent) said they have been actively reducing non-essential expenses during this period.

The report also found that nearly a third have 'saved more' (32 per cent) or 'relied more on savings for expenses' (31 per cent), while a fifth (21 per cent) claim to have taken on more debt to cover expenses.

It seems people are likely to continue restricting non-essential spending in the future as well, with more than three-quarters of urban Indians (77 per cent) saying that.

In each of the APAC (Asia-Pacific) nations featured in the report, at least two-thirds of consumers plan to cut their costs going forward.

Further, the report also revealed public perspective towards cash and payment technology.

India ranks among the top countries where people said they use contactless payment wherever possible (at 73 per cent). However, two in five (39 per cent) prefer to pay by cash.

The European nations in our study have largely accepted contactless payments — except for Germany, where cash appears to be a more prominent means of payment.

However, usage of cash is the highest in Mexico, where more than half (52 per cent) prefer to pay through this medium, it noted.

''As consumers are still dealing with the uncertainties of the pandemic, banks and financial service providers must come up with innovative offerings based on people's current priorities and behaviours to make them feel more secure about their financial future,'' YouGov's Deepa Bhatia added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)