The Indian Public Opinion Monitor (IPOM) is a longitudinal panel of 3,022 opinion leaders from across India that aims to provide an ongoing monitor of opinions and perspectives on the economic and social development of India, and on India’s place in the wider world. A particular sub-theme is India’s relations with other emerging and developing economies in South Asia and globally.

The current survey was undertaken in July 2013. Of the 3,022 members of the panel, 2,789 returned the fully completed questionnaire.DFI

Henson, Spencer

English

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IDSEVIDENCE REPORTNo 29
Policy Anticipation, Response and Evaluation
Indian Public Opinion Monitor: Baseline Survey 
Results
Spencer Henson
September 2013
INDIAN PUBLIC OPINION MONITOR: BASELINE SURVEY RESULTS
Spencer Henson
September 2013
This is an Open Access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted 
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are clearly credited.
First published by the Institute of Development Studies in September 2013
© Institute of Development Studies 2013
IDS is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (No. 877338).
The IDS programme on Strengthening Evidence-based Policy works across seven key themes. Each theme 
works with partner institutions to co-construct policy-relevant knowledge and engage in policy-influencing 
processes. This material has been developed under the Policy Anticipation, Response and Evaluation theme.
The development of this material has been led by IDS who holds the copyright.  
The material has been funded by UK aid from the UK Government, however the views expressed do not  
necessarily reflect the UK Government’s official policies.
AG Level 2 Output ID: 276
1 
 
Contents 
1 Scope and aims of the Indian Public Opinion Monitor 2 
 
2 Broad sentiment on life in India today and into the future 3 
 
3 Major challenges facing India today 5 
 
4 India and the wider world 7 
 
5 India and aid 9 
 
Further information 11 
 
Figures  
Figure 1   Overall how satisfied are you with life in India today? 3 
Figure 2   Over the next five to ten years, how do you see life changing for people  
like you in India? 4 
Figure 3   Over the next five to ten years, how do you see life changing for poor  
people in India? 5 
Figure 4   What do you see as the number one challenge facing India today? 5 
Figure 5   Overall how concerned are you about the following issues in India today? 6 
Figure 6   Overall how do you think the rest of the world sees India? 7 
Figure 7   How much political influence do you think India has in the world today? 8 
Figure 8   How much political influence do you think India has in South Asia today? 8 
Figure 9   How important should each of the following factors be in determining the 
financial and other assistance provided by India to other developing 
countries? 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
1 Scope and aims of the Indian Public 
Opinion Monitor 
The Indian Public Opinion Monitor (IPOM) is a longitudinal panel of 3,022 opinion 
leaders from across India that aims to provide an ongoing monitor of opinions and 
perspectives on the economic and social development of India, and on India’s place 
in the wider world. A particular sub-theme is India’s relations with other emerging and 
developing economies in South Asia and globally. 
 
Reflecting the logistical difficulties and costs associated with surveys involving a 
representative sample of the Indian population, the IPOM specifically focuses on 
opinion leaders. Here, opinion leaders are defined as individuals who are engaged 
actively in economic and/or political issues in India and who are willing to participate 
in an ongoing panel, meaning that they will be asked to respond to questions on an 
ongoing basis. A further rationale for the focus on opinion leaders is that they both 
provide an effective ‘pulse’ on opinions on economic and social issues in India, and 
are also key drivers of these opinions. 
 
The IPOM is an internet-based survey platform through which members are 
presented with short questionnaires every two months. Members were recruited by a 
professional survey organisation using a short telephone survey. Potential panel 
members were asked if they had an interest and were engaged in economic and/or 
political issues in India, and would be able and willing to complete short internet-
based surveys on an ongoing basis. Demographic information on each panel 
member was collected. 
 
Members of the IPOM are sent an email inviting them to participate in each survey, 
which contains a link to the survey. After a period of seven days, members who have 
not responded are sent a reminder. 
 
The current survey was undertaken in July 2013. Of the 3,022 members of the panel, 
2,789 returned the fully completed questionnaire. A summary of the results is 
provided below. 
 
These results, and those of the surveys through the remainder of 2013, aim to 
provide a baseline on opinions and perspectives on the economic and social 
development of India, and on India’s place in the wider world. Surveys in future 
months and years will enable changes in opinions relative to this baseline to be 
tracked. More importantly, the longitudinal nature of the panel makes it possible to 
identify who has changed their opinions and to pinpoint the key factors driving such 
changes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3 
 
2 Broad sentiment on life in India today 
and into the future 
To obtain a broad measure of the sentiment of public opinion leaders in India, panel 
members were asked how satisfied they were with their own life in India today. With 
over 54 per cent of panel members indicating that they were satisfied with their life 
today and a further 23 per cent being very satisfied (Figure 1), there is evidence of a 
high degree of satisfaction. Furthermore, panel members appear to have a rather 
optimistic view of their life looking to the future, with 57 per cent expecting their life to 
change for the better in the next five to ten years (Figure 2) and a further 11 per cent 
expecting their life to get much better. 
 
Figure 1 Overall, how satisfied are you with life in India today? 
 
 
The rather optimistic view of public opinion leaders with respect to their own life 
extends also to their expectations as to how the life of poor people will change in 
India over the next five to ten years. Thus, 56 per cent were of the view that the life of 
the poor will improve (Figure 3), whilst only 15 per cent considered that the life of the 
poor will get worse. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
0 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
Very 
satisfied 
Somewhat 
satisfied 
Neither 
satisfied 
not 
dissatisfied 
Somewhat 
dissatisfied 
Very 
dissatisfied 
Don't know 
%
 
4 
 
Figure 2 Over the next five to ten years, how do you see life 
changing for people like you in India? 
 
 
Figure 3 Over the next five to ten years, how do you see life 
changing for poor people in India? 
 
 
 
 
 
0 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
Get much 
better 
Get better Little or no 
change 
Get worse Get much 
worse 
Don't know 
%
 
0 
5 
10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
45 
50 
Get much 
better 
Get better Little or no 
change 
Get worse Get much 
worse 
Don't know 
%
 
5 
 
3 Major challenges facing India today 
Respondents to the survey were asked what they considered to be the number one 
challenge facing India today. The aim here, by not providing any prompts, was to 
elicit the challenges that were at the forefront of respondents’ concerns. In practice, 
because respondents were allowed to use their own words in describing these 
challenges, their responses included multiple issues. 
 
By far the most frequently cited challenge was corruption, being mentioned by 67 per 
cent of respondents (Figure 4). Women’s safety was considered a major challenge 
for India by 43 per cent of respondents. All other issues, including poverty, economy 
and unemployment, were noted by far fewer numbers of respondents to the survey. 
 
Figure 4 What do you see as the number one challenge facing 
India today? 
 
A parallel question presented a series of issues facing India today, and asked 
respondents to indicate how important they considered them to be on a scale from 
‘very concerned’ to ‘very unconcerned’. The aim here was to get an indication of the 
relative importance of a consistent and fairly comprehensive set of issues. 
 
Again, corruption emerged as the predominant issue facing India, with almost 44 per 
cent of respondents indicating that they were ‘very concerned’ and a further 29 per 
cent being ‘somewhat concerned’ (Figure 5). The closely related issue, the 
transparency of government, was also of great concern. Human rights and the 
position of women were also revealed as important issues, with 44 per cent and 42 
per cent of respondents respectively being ‘very concerned’. 
 
 
 
0 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
70 
80 
C
o
rru
p
tio
n
 
W
o
m
en
's 
safety 
Po
verty 
Eco
n
o
m
y 
U
n
e
m
p
lo
ym
en
t 
O
th
er 
%
 
6 
 
Figure 5  Overall, how concerned are you about the following 
issues in India today? 
 
 
Conversely, the level of poverty and inequality in India were revealed to be of least 
concern to respondents. Thus, only 19 per cent of respondents were ‘very 
concerned’ about the gap between the rich and the poor in India (Figure 5), with a 
further 30 per cent being ‘somewhat concerned’. Only 23 per cent were ‘very 
concerned’ about the number of people in poverty in India, with a further 40 per cent 
being ‘somewhat concerned’. 
 
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
70% 
80% 
90% 
100% 
State o
f th
e eco
n
o
m
y 
Tran
sp
aren
cy o
f 
 go
ve
rn
m
en
t 
Q
u
ality o
f d
em
o
cracy 
P
ro
tectio
n
 o
f th
e  
en
viro
n
m
en
t 
N
u
m
b
er o
f p
eo
p
le
 
 in
 p
o
ve
rty 
Level o
f co
rru
p
tio
n
 
G
ap
 b
etw
ee
n
 th
e rich
  
an
d
 th
e p
o
o
r 
H
u
m
an
 righ
ts 
P
o
sitio
n
 o
f w
o
m
en
 
Level o
f crim
e
 
Very concerned Somewhat concerned 
Neither concerned nor unconcerned Somewhat unconcerned 
Very unconcerned 
7 
 
4 India and the wider world 
In order to get a perspective on India’s place in the wider world, panel members were 
first asked how they thought the rest of the world sees India. The results suggest that 
opinion leaders generally believe that India is seen positively in the wider world. 
Thus, over 76 per cent of respondents were of the view that India is viewed 
positively, and almost 20 per cent thought it was seen ‘very positively’ (Figure 6). 
Conversely, less than 9 per cent thought it was seen negatively. 
 
Figure 6 Overall, how do you think the rest of the world sees 
India? 
 
 
Opinions on India’s political influence in the world today, however, were somewhat 
less favourable (Figure 7). Whilst 54 per cent of panel members thought that India 
has a great political influence in the world, less than 12 per cent considered this to be 
‘very great’. At the same time, over 20 per cent considered India’s political influence 
to be minimal. Focusing on the South Asia region specifically, less than 51 per cent 
of opinion leaders considered India’s political influence to be great, whilst only around 
11 per cent considered this to be ‘very great’ (Figure 8). Almost 19 per cent were of 
the view that India’s political influence in South Asia was slight. 
  
0 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
Very 
positively 
Somewhat 
positively 
Neither 
positively 
nor 
negatively 
Somewhat 
negatively 
Very 
negatively 
Don't know 
%
 
8 
 
Figure 7  How much political influence do you think India has in 
the world today? 
 
 
Figure 8  How much political influence do you think India has in 
South Asia today? 
 
 
Looking to the future, however, the majority (62 per cent ) of panel members were of 
the view that India has the capabilities needed to enhance its global political 
influence. Less than 24 per cent considered that India lacked these capabilities, 
whilst around 14 per cent did not know. 
 
0 
5 
10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
45 
Very great Somewhat 
great 
Neither 
little nor 
great 
Somewhat 
little 
Very little Don't know 
%
 
0 
5 
10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
45 
Very great Somewhat 
great 
Neither 
little nor 
great 
Somewhat 
little 
Very little Don't know 
%
 
9 
 
5 India and aid 
Finally, the first baseline survey explored the options and perspectives of opinion 
leaders on aid and its role in India’s development, and India’s role as a provider of 
aid to other developing countries. 
 
Of panel members who responded to the survey, 45 per cent believed that India 
receives financial or other forms of assistance from other countries. Around 41 per 
cent were of the view that India does not receive aid and almost 14 per cent did not 
know. Of those recognising that India does indeed receive aid from other countries, 
the countries most frequently identified as providing such assistance were the United 
States (65 per cent), UK (34 per cent) and China (26 per cent). A far greater 
proportion (69 per cent) of panel members were of the view that India should receive 
financial or other forms of assistance from other countries. Indeed, less than 19 per 
cent considered that India should not receive aid, with a further 12 per cent not 
knowing. 
 
Almost half the panel members (44 per cent) believed that India provides financial or 
other forms of assistance to other developing countries. Almost 44 per cent did not 
consider that India provides aid to other developing countries and 11 per cent did not 
know. Almost 63 per cent were of the view that India should provide aid to other 
developing countries, while only 28 per cent considered this not to be appropriate. 
 
A number of factors might influence the financial and other assistance provided by 
India to other developing countries, including the choice of recipient countries, forms 
of aid provided, etc. Respondents were presented with a series of factors that might 
determine the aid given by India to other developing countries and were asked to 
indicate the importance of each (Figure 9). The factors that the greatest proportion of 
respondents considered important were reducing poverty (78 per cent), promoting 
India’s own security (74 per cent) and promoting peace and security in the world (73 
per cent). Conversely, only 53 per cent considered the promotion of India’s own 
economic interests to be an important factor in determining the aid given by India to 
other developing countries, whilst 20 per cent considered this to be unimportant. 
  
10 
 
Figure 9  How important should each of the following factors be in 
determining the financial and other assistance provided 
by India to other developing countries? 
 
 
 
 
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
70% 
80% 
90% 
100% 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g h
u
m
an
 righ
ts 
R
ed
u
cin
g p
o
verty 
In
creasin
g In
d
ia's p
o
litical in
flu
en
ce in
 th
e w
o
rld
 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g In
d
ia's eco
n
o
m
ic in
terests 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g b
etter go
vern
m
en
t in
 o
th
er co
u
n
tries 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g p
eace an
d
 secu
rity acro
ss th
e w
o
rld
 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g In
d
ia's o
w
n
 n
atio
n
al secu
rity 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g th
e p
o
sitio
n
 o
f w
o
m
en
 in
 o
th
er co
u
n
tries 
R
esp
o
n
d
in
g to
 n
atu
ral d
isasters 
P
ro
m
o
tin
g so
lid
arity am
o
n
gst d
evelo
p
in
g n
atio
n
s 
Very important Somewhat important 
Neither important nor unimportant Somewhat unimportant 
Very unimportant 
11 
 
Further information 
If you would like any further information about the IPOM and/or additional results, 
please do not hesitate to contact Spencer Henson (s.henson@ids.ac.uk). In addition, 
information about the IPOM and similar panels in South Africa and Brazil is available 
at www.ids.ac.uk/ipom.  
Brighton BN1 9RE 
T +44 (0)1273 606261 
F +44 (0)1273 621202 
E ids@ids.ac.uk
www.ids.ac.uk
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