Indians are the most fiscally responsible globally, but don't practice what they preach: Western Union Survey

When it comes to festival gifting, Indians don't practice what they preach. India is the most fiscally responsible country surveyed with 75 percent of Indians budgeting for last festival season. However, budgeting aside, 72 percent spent more than they had budgeted, according to an independent global gifting survey conducted by Wakefield Research and commissioned by Western Union.

Indians are resilient, even though they haven't adhered to budgets in the last festival season, 87 percent still plan to make a budget for future festival gifting.

The pressure to find the perfect gift for loved ones gets to Indians and their budgeting, as it does for people from Brazil, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, UAE, UK and US.

Indians don't gift in the same spirit as they prefer. More than half of Indians (51%) would rather receive a cash gift of Rs1000 over a physical gift of the same value. However, when Indians eventually gift to family and loved ones, a majority (65%) opt for a physical gift at the risk of overspending.

Indians most like to make the lives of their children (36%), mum (26%) and dad (13%) better, over spoiling their significant other (4%). This in in contrast to all the other countries surveyed which gave greater priority to making their significant others' lives better (13-31%).

"Indians may not have to empty their pockets to find the perfect gift after all," said Kiran Shetty, regional Vice President, Western Union India.

"Giving cash is an easy way for gift givers to make their loved one's day better allowing them to purchase what they really want and need. Gifting cash also helps better manage festival-related expenses including the unforeseen costs associated with physical purchases ' gift choice, transportation, wrapping and overall time constraints," he said.

The Western UnionÃ‚® Global Gifting Survey highlights:

To learn more and submit an entry, visit www.worldofbetters.com, click on the enter button to complete the registration form and follow the instructions on how to submit the entry. The site is available in English, Spanish, French, and German, with some pages available in Portuguese, Russian and Arabic. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Entry is subject to the Official Rules available at www.worldofbetters.com. Void where prohibited by law.