Two in five urban Indians consider saving money for hardships a top financial priority in 2021

YouGov’s new report provides an overview of financial attitudes and habits in 17 global markets.

YouGov’s latest deep dive custom research reveals two in five (40%) urban Indians consider savings for unexpected hardships their top financial priority in 2021.

‘On the money: Global banking & finance report 2021’ is based on more than 18, 000 interviews and provides a high-level analysis of consumers’ attitudes to financial services across 17 global markets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for people across the globe and consumers in most markets are saving money for unexpected hardships. This is the highest in Indonesia (54%), but amounts to comfortably more than a third of the public in every market except Denmark (20%).

In India, apart from saving, more than a third (35%) want to ensure they protect themselves and their families in case of emergencies while 27% look forward to fulfilling their regular financial commitments in this year. In other European countries like Spain (55%), Great Britain (49%), and Sweden (47%), the public are most likely to focus on fulfilling their regular financial commitments such as paying bills and rent.

One-fourth Indians are likely to make money by investing (25%), while paying off debts and accumulating money for retirement seem to be at a lower priority (22% each).

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Paying off debts is a greater priority in countries like US (39%) and Mexico (43%) but appears to be a lesser concern in the European nations like France (18%), Germany (20%), Denmark (22%), and Sweden (22%), where it is a priority for just under a fifth of the public.

Even though saving is the main goal for Indians this year, few intend to buy a property (14%) or purchase assets (15%) in 2021.

Outside of saving money and paying debts, a minority of the global public are looking to resume their normal spending habits as quickly as possible – especially in Italy (15%), Spain (14%) and France (12%). In India less than one in ten (9%) see it as a priority.

When asked about their household situation in the past six months, nearly a third of urban Indians (31%) said they have dipped into their savings to cover their expenses. Almost as many (32%) reported to have saved more while a fifth (21%) claimed to have borrowed more money or taken on debt to manage the situation.

In order to manage future finances almost eight in ten (77%) people in India plan to cut back on their non-essential expenditure in future. These numbers are higher in countries like Mexico (90%), Indonesia (87%) and Spain (86%). Germany and Denmark are at the bottom of the list where where 45% and 46% respectively believe they will slim down their outgoings.

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