Indian economy tops optimism list--

India has regained top slot in optimism among privately held businesses for 2009. While optimism amongst privately held businesses (PHBs) around the world slumped by 56% over the last 12 months.

Despite raging pessimism, the survey found that PHBs from 11 countries remained optimistic about the outlook for their economies, with India leading this group (+83%), and Botswana (+81%) with Brazil (+50%) also emerging on the top. Japan (-85%) and Spain (-65%) were the most pessimistic. It is the first time that pessimists have outweighed optimists about the outlook for their economy .Of the four largest trading nations, PHBs in the United States and mainland China, who together contribute over 32% of global GDP1, scored their optimism at -34% in the United States and +30% in Mainland China. Similarly, Japan and India (collectively contributing over 11% of global GDP) scored their optimism at -85% and +83% respectively. (Source:ET)

When asked to identify the most significant factors causing most concern for their business, PHBs in 33 out of the 36 economies cited a fall in consumer demand, while citing a shortage of business credit as a secondary concern.