The India mood: Confidence in the country, anxiety about careers

A sense of collective pride, and yet a feeling of individual disquiet. This is probably the most accurate description of the mood among India's more connected, urban-skewed population. There is confidence in the larger macroeconomic story, even as there is lingering uncertainty about the jobs market and an apparent weakening of the old assumption that education is a sure-shot route to upward mobility. Ipsos's September surveys capture that dilemma between hope and anxiety. India ranks first among 30 markets on consumer confidence but 16th on jobs, and unemployment is the issue Indian respondents worry about most.India's consumers are upbeat about the economy. In Ipsos's September 2026 Global Consumer Confidence Index, India scores 66.9, the highest among the 30 markets, compared with a global average of 48.4.