According to the Consumer Confidence Index, the population of the Philippines and India will be increasing their consumer activity in 2021. A survey of Robocash Group has shown that about 71% of Filipinos and 64% of Indians will be doing it with the help of non-bank loans.
As stated in the Consumer Confidence Index, the population of India estimates their current financial situation as 55.5 points, twice as low as a year ago. In the Philippines, this score is about 7 points worse than in India if considered on the same scale.
Despite this, more than half of the surveyed Indians expect that the economic situation will improve. 51% of the population believes that their income will increase next year. At the same time, a large share of the respondents expect that they will be spending more than earning.
In the Philippines, expectations for the next 12 months are more optimistic. When asked about the economic situation, the financial state of the family, and the income, the respondents answered mostly positively. This is also confirmed by the Robocash Group survey – 76.5% of Filipinos said that their income is likely to increase in 2021.
The growing consumer activity this year will certainly affect the lending market. Borrowings will be one of the tools to meet the increasing demand. According to the Robocash Group survey, 63.5% of Indians and 70.6% of Filipinos are definitely going to borrow money in 2021.
For this purpose, 62.7% of respondents in the Philippines will use alternative lending services, and 17.6% will go to a bank. In India, the situation is opposite: banks take the leading position with 46.1% of votes, followed by alternative lenders with 23.5%. As India is the second most populous country in the world, such a share of population still makes a strong demand for alternative lending services.
In both countries, most respondents would prefer to use online services (56.9% in the Philippines, 64.3% in India) rather than going to offline branches. Possibly, Filipinos who want to get a loan online tend to use alternative lenders due to the low supply in the local online banking market. In India, which has a bigger number of neobanks, the population is more inclined to choose them in the first place.