June 4, 2014. Copyright 2014, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Perceptions of India

For media interviews with the participating pollsters, please contact:
Robin Miller, Marketing and Communications Manager
GlobeScan Incorporated
Tel: +1 647 528 2767
Robin.Miller@GlobeScan.com

Steven Kull, Director
Program on International Policy Attitudes, Washington
Tel: +1 202 232 7500
(Mobile: +1 301 254 7500)
Skull@pipa.org

LONDON, June 4, Graphic News: Global perceptions of India have improved in 2014, as shown in the latest 24-country poll for the BBC World Service, conducted by GlobeScan and The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.

On average, in the 20 tracking countries polled in 2013 and 2014, 38 per cent have rated IndiaÕs world influence positively. This represents a four-point increase since 2013. At the same time, 36 per cent of respondents globally hold negative views (down 1 point). In terms of positive views, despite this improvement, India continues to rank 12th out of 17 countries rated, including the EU.

Out of the 23 countries surveyed about IndiaÕs influence in 2014, ten lean positive, ten negative, and three are divided.

The most favourable views of India are found among African countries where positive attitudes have become warmer over the past year. Sixty-four per cent of Nigerians have favourable perceptions (up 7 points, and record high since it was first rated in 2006), as do 53 per cent in Kenya and Ghana. In these two countries, positive ratings have gone up 18 and seven percentage points respectively. In the three African countries, negative perceptions are amongst the lowest of all surveyed countries, not above 23 per centÑand they are down seven points in Ghana (22%)

In Europe, perceptions of IndiaÕs influence in the world are split. Like in 2013, Britons remain divided (45% positive vs 46% negative). While the French were divided in 2013 (42% positive vs 44% negative), they have become more negative this year (40% positive vs 49% negative). This picture remains much less grim than in Germany where negative perceptions have surged 18 points to 68 per cent, or in Spain where the opinion remains strongly negative (20% positive vs 50% negative) despite a six-point uptick in positive ratings and a similar drop in unfavourable views.

Apart from Israel, countries in peripheral Europe lean much more favourably, with plurality of 45 per cent of Russians rating India positively and only 9 per cent of the countryÕs respondents having negative perceptionsÑthe lowest proportion of all the surveyed countries alongside Japan. In Turkey, the mood towards India has shifted very noticeably with a 15-point drop in negative ratings combined with a nine-point rise in positive views. As a result, the Turkish opinion has become somewhat positive in 2014 (35% positive vs 29%) as opposed to leaning strongly negatively in 2013 (26% positive vs 44% negative). Surveyed for the first time in 2014, Israel is mostly negative towards the perceived influence of India. With only 9 per cent of positive ratings, it has the lowest proportion of favourable views out of all countries surveyed. Thirty-four per cent of Israeli feel negative, leaving a majority of 57 per cent who are undecided. 26

Like in the UK, opinions are mostly divided in the other English-speaking countries. Australian perceptions of India have shifted from leaning strongly negatively in 2013 to being divided in 2014 following an increase in positive views of 16 points (up to 44%) and a tenpoint decrease in negative opinions (down to 46%). With negative views of India in the USA at their highest since the survey started in 2006Ñand now reaching 41 per centÑthe opinion of India among Americans has slightly shifted from somewhat positive in 2013 to being divided in 2014 (45% positive vs 41% negative). In Canada, opinions remain unchanged with a plurality leaning negatively (38% positive vs 46% negative).

Perceptions of India among BRIC counterparts are mostly positive in 2014, due to improved ratings in China and Brazil. Though much less favourable overall than in Russia, perceptions have improved in Brazil, with positive ratings increasing by 15 points to 41 per cent. With negative ratings staying stable at 36 per cent, this has resulted in a shift of the Brazilian opinion now leaning somewhat positively overall. In China, a plurality of 35 per cent are negative in their attitudes towards India, however this is 10 per cent less than in 2013.

Other Asian countries surveyed have mixed views of IndiaÕs influence. IndiansÕ ratings of their own countryÕs influence excluded, Indonesians are the most positive in Asia about India (47% positive vs 24% negative). In Japan, despite an eight-point decline in positive perceptions since 2013, Japanese still lean towards a favourable opinion overall (34% positive vs 9% negative). In contrast, Pakistan and South Korea have mostly negative perceptions of IndiaÕs influence. Negative ratings have remained mostly stable in the two countries, but with 58 per cent of Pakistanis leaning unfavourably (second highest percentage after Israel), Pakistanis have never been so negative towards their neighbour since they first rated them in 2010.

IndiaÕs own perception of its influence in the world has also dropped, with a decrease in positive views of nine points (56%) and an increase in negative views of eight points (22%).
In Latin America, perceptions in Mexico have remained stable and negative overall (26% positive vs 37% negative). A plurality remains positive in Chile (35%), but it has declined from 46 per cent in 2013. In Peru, the public has shifted from being perfectly divided in 2013 (25% positive vs 25% negative) to leaning somewhat negatively this year following a sixpoint increase in negative ratings (26% positive vs 31% negative).
/ENDS