Ambitious Insights Study by American Express

Commitment to achieving professional and personal ambitions highest amongst Indian women: Ambitious Insights study by American Express

·         89% of university-educated women in India believe it is important to have ambitions

·         70% of them are proud to call themselves ambitious

Mumbai, March 3, 2020: American Express in partnership with The New York Women’s Foundation commissioned Ambitious Insights- a survey report, under which university-educated, full time working women (not affiliated with American Express) across the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and U.K were asked about their relationship with ‘Ambition’- both professional and personal. The report launched ahead of The International Women’s Day, carries some interesting insights like:

·         89% of Indian working women believe, that it is important to have ambitions or a strong desire to achieve success in life as compared to the global average of 59%.

·         Commitment to achieving personal ambitions such as those related to parenting, relationships or personal health was highest in India (91%) as compared to the global average of 68%. 

·         Indian women (65%) are also most likely to feel that they must work harder than their male counterparts to gain career recognition. 

·         Women in India (70%) followed by Germany (35%) and the U.S. (33%) are most likely to feel proud in calling themselves ambitious.

Commenting on the report, Mr. Manoj Adlakha, Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - American Express Banking Corp India said, “The Ambitious Insights study throws light on the fact that ambition is not a simple thing. It exists across many dimensions- successful careers, financial independence and skills, while also being healthy, being great parents and having strong personal relationships.”

Talking specifically about India, he further added, “I feel that women in India have always been driven, and the report attests, that given a chance, they have the confidence to nurture their ambitions and lead the world by setting an example. We are proud to say that, at American Express, we have various initiatives to ensure equal opportunities for all our colleagues. And this study demonstrates the power of vocal leadership, a dedicated community and collective ambition on women’s overall advancement.”

EXCERPTS FROM THE STUDY

Perceptions of Ambition

Across all markets surveyed, most women do not call themselves ‘ambitious’ and are divided about whether being called ambitious in the workplace is positive.

·         Globally, majority of women consider themselves to be ambitious, however only three in ten (31%) women say they are proud to call themselves “ambitious.”

·         Indian women led the findings on the importance of having ambition (89%, very important) followed by Mexico (82%) and the U.S. (68%) whereas the importance of having ambitions in life is significantly lower in France (41%, very important) and Japan (28%).

·         Having a successful career received the highest importance ratings in India (78%), very important), Mexico (69%) and the U.S. (44%) and was significantly lower in Japan (17%).

Putting Personal Ambitions Above Professional

·         Being healthy is rated very important by two-thirds of the women surveyed overall (65%), while acquiring wealth, a traditional outcome of ambition, is at the bottom of the list with only 30% rating it as very important. 

·         Overall, the women surveyed were more likely to be committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve personal ambitions (68%) such as those related to parenting, relationships or personal health than external ambitions (53%) such as career, education and wealth.

Receiving Recognition

Overall, women have relatively low expectations for being recognized for successes in their career or personal lives

·         Overall, more women agree that they receive recognition for success in their personal life (34%) than in their work life (29%).

·         Three-in-ten women strongly agree that they have to work harder than their male peers to get recognition at work (31%). Women in India (65%), Mexico (38%), Germany (34%) and Italy (33%) are most likely to feel this way. 

The Confidence Gap

While women may be sure of the importance of having ambitions, their confidence in being able to achieve those ambitions, by comparison, is significantly lower– particularly when it comes to personal ambitions.

·         40% said it is very important to have ambitions for a successful career and 32% are very confident that they will be able to achieve that success

·         Women in India (68%, very confident) and Mexico (59%) are the most confident in being able to achieve their career ambitions

·         When it comes to achieving personal ambitions, women in India, Mexico and Germany are more confident, especially when it comes to being as healthy as possible and fulfilling life experiences.

Achieving Career Ambitions

The women surveyed accept personal responsibility for achieving professional goals.

·         Overall, women view their own confidence and determination (31%) as the most important factor for staying on track to achieve their career ambitions followed by family support (21%), professional recognition (10%) and supportive leaders (10%).

·         Receiving professional recognition is of highest importance in India (16%), but still ranks behind self-confidence (31%) and family support (28%).

Confidence in the workplace

While having self-confidence is viewed as most important for women to achieve career ambitions, they may not act as confident as they feel at the workplace.

·         Confidence in having the skills and qualifications necessary to be effective in performing their job is highest among women in Mexico (75%), India (71%) and the U.S. (51%)

·         Women in India (69%), Mexico (60%), Italy (48%) are most likely to stand their ground on an issue at work and to seek leadership opportunities as well (India, 66%; Mexico, 62%; Italy, 34%)

Personal Support

Family support was identified as the second most important factor, after self-confidence, in staying on track for achieving career goals - further reinforcing the connection between women’s personal and professional lives, internationally.

·         Overall, three-in-ten (28%) women strongly agree that to make progress toward achieving their career ambitions, they must make significant sacrifices in their personal life.

Women as Career Advocates

While globally women see value in having a career advocate, that role is not necessarily being fulfilled.

·         Women in India (63%), Italy, Mexico and the U.S. (32%, each) are most likely to have advocated for someone else to help them in their career

·         Women in India (62%), Mexico (35%) and Germany (27%) are most likely to have had someone advocate for them and help them in their career.

Methodology

Ambitious Insights is a study commissioned by American Express, in partnership with The New York Women’s Foundation, based on a sample of 3,026 women (not affiliated with American Express) ages 21-64 with a university degree or higher and employed full time in the following markets: U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and U.K. Completed interviews were weighted by age to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the individual market populations. The anonymous survey was conducted using an online panel January 10-16, 2020.

About American Express

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com, and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, Linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

American Express Continues Growth In Merchant Base Expansion in India with over 600,000 new merchant additions since 2017

 

NETWORK GROWTH DRIVEN BOTH BY TIER 1 AND TIER 2 CITIES

KEY VERTICALS IN FOCUS - ECOMMERCE, HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION AND UTILITIES

Mumbai (India), October 22, 2019: American Express, the world’s largest card issuer by purchase volume and the largest integrated payments platform, has aggressively expanded its merchant coverage in India with over 600,000 new merchants added since 2017. The growth across the country is driven by increased demand from tier 1 and tier 2 cities where American Express Cardmembers want to spend. This includes categories such as online merchants, utilities, insurance, hospitals, retail, grocery stores and fuel stations.

According to Anurag Gupta, Vice President & Head, Global Merchant Services, American Express, “It has been a continuous growth journey for us to match pace with the accelerated digital payments revolution in India. Building on our strong momentum from the past few years, we have enabled Amex Card acceptance in many new categories to displace cash spend. We are targeting sectors such as government payments, education and health care, to provide our Cardmembers even more places to use their cards and do business with more merchants.” 

Major new categories signed up by American Express in India this year include:

• Premium mobile phone stores
• Key tourist attractions
• Transport service providers
• Luxury accessory retailers
• New online retailers
• Online payment gateways and aggregators

Sharing more details on the highlights of American Express coverage expansion efforts, Anurag elaborated, “Our focus is on driving acceptance across spend categories. We now have significant coverage across large eCommerce merchants and partner with almost all major online payment gateways and aggregators. To enable our Cardmembers to use their card at retail locations, we are also actively deploying signage and innovative point of purchase displays. To deliver strong value to both Cardmembers and merchants, we have brought in over 150 best-in-class offers from merchant partners such as Taj Hotels, MakeMyTrip, Air India, Vistara, Tanishq, Reliance Digital, Starbucks, Zomato, Swiggy, Delhi Duty Free, Flipkart, Bigbasket, Grofers, Pepperfry, WeWork, Apple and many others.”

Anurag added, “Our commitment to meaningful value and best-in-class experience is the core of our proposition for merchant partners as we connect them to our high spending Cardmember base. We’ve also made investments in our fraud-prevention capabilities to back our merchants leading to the lowest fraud rates in the industry.”

American Express drives higher returns for merchants as its affluent Cardmember base spends three times higher than industry average. It also invests heavily in fraud prevention technology and other business friendly programs like Amex Offers to deliver more value to merchant partners. American Express acquiring partnerships with banks for merchant acquisition makes it easier for merchants to accept all networks including American Express.

Over the last couple of years, more and more merchants across categories started accepting American Express:

• Over 50,000 more restaurants added since 2017
• Over 29,000 more fuel stations added since 2017
• Over 20,000 more healthcare service providers added since 2017
• Over 8,000 more educational institutions added since 2017
  
• Over 500 government agencies added since 2017

The company has also seen strong growth across metros and tier-I cities with:

• Over 64,000 more merchants added in Delhi-NCR since 2017
• Over 60,000 more merchants added in Mumbai since 2017
• Over 43,000 more merchants added in Bengaluru since 2017
• Over 30,000 more merchants added in Chennai since 2017
• Over 33,000 more merchants added in Hyderabad since 2017
• Over 27,000 more merchants added in Pune since 2017

American Express merchant partners enjoy many benefits including priority servicing, standardized product-agnostic fee structure, besides other value-added services.

ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.  Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, InAuth, corporate card, business travel, and corporate responsibility.

Indian CFOs plan to increase spend to support topline growth in 2019, according to an American Express Global Survey

• 90% of Indian CFOs believe that improving cash and working-capital management will be more important this year as compared to last

Mumbai, July 16, 2019: Senior finance executives remain optimistic about the economy, the outlook for their companies and their investments for the future, according to the 2019 Global Business & Spending Outlook, a survey released by American Express and Institutional Investor Thought Leadership Studio. *

This optimism can be seen in their spending outlook: 

·        83% CFOs are looking at moderate to aggressive increase in spending and investment this year to support topline growth

• 33% CFOs expect their company's spending and investment worldwide to change by 10% or more this year

• 90% of Indian CFOs believe that improving cash and working-capital management will be more important this year as compared to last 
• 67% Indian CFOs expect improved use of credit to yield a substantial financial benefit
• 57% of Indian CFOs are likely to increase their investments in improving administrative process efficiency this year. The focus on efficiently managing bottom-line spending is evident in the increase from 40% voting this as an investment priority last year
• 96% of CFOs plan to spend more or the same amount this year on financial reporting and compliance services
• Travel and entertainment (T&E) continues to be a sizeable part of companies’ spending, with 77% Indian finance executives planning to increase their spend or invest the same amount on T&E this year
• Compared to five years ago, 57% of Indian CFOs find the information received on T&E spending more informative and transparent

“Indian firms are gearing up to efficiently manage their spending and investment this year with a keen eye on the future,” said Manoj Adlakha, CEO – American Express India. “While they balance spending to drive top-line growth with profitability, they’re pressing ahead with plans to take advantage of demographic and economic changes to stay relevant and competitive in the next 5-10 years."

Indian companies continue to grow; 87% of companies surveyed in India report higher or much higher revenue in the last 12 months, as compared to 43% last year. This number is notably higher than the worldwide (65%) and Asia average (63%) for this year.

Top priorities of Indian CFOs as they seek to “Future-Proof” their businesses

• CFOs in India and worldwide continue to prioritise the business goal of ‘better meeting customer needs’, with 57% of Indian CFOs voting it as among their top business priorities
• ‘Improving financial returns to owners or shareholders’ is equally important for Indian CFOs, with 57% voting it as among their most important business goal with a significant increase from 27% last year
• ‘Remaining competitive with other companies’ (43%) and ‘pursuing business transformation and innovation’ (40%) and ‘entering new markets’ (27%) are the other important priorities on their radar

Outlook on the external environment remains positive

• In terms of their confidence in the nation’s economy, 80% of Indian respondents expect a substantial or modest economic expansion in the year ahead, substantially higher than their global peers at 71%

• Economic expansion expectations remain highest in the Asia/Australia region (79%, down from 94% last year) and lowest in Latin America (43%, down from 52% last year) 

• Indian CFOs continue having a positive outlook towards global trade policy, with 63% of Indian CFOs expecting global trade policy to strengthen their company's growth prospects 

“I feel CFOs today play a critical role in the long-term strategic planning and health of the company. In fact, one of the findings in the survey is that 73% of Indian CFOs collaborate most closely with the board of directors. This is testimony to the increasingly important and strategic role CFOs play, as they navigate organizational spending in line with economic drivers and influences,” said Manoj Adlakha, CEO – American Express India."

METHODOLOGY

The 2019 Global Business & Spending Outlook was conducted by Institutional Investor Thought Leadership Studio (IITLS) and is based on a survey of 901 senior finance executives from companies around the world with annual revenues of $500 million or more. In total, 180 CFOs and other senior finance executives from Asia and 30 from companies in India participated in the study.  All survey responses were gathered in late November and December 2018. IITLS estimates the margin of error for the survey to be approximately +/-3.2% at a 95% level of confidence.

American Express Introduces 10XwithAmex At DLF Shopping Malls In NCR

EARN UPTO 10X MEMBERSHIP REWARDS POINTS ON ALL SPENDS AT PARTICIPATING MALLS

·      The promotion is on till July 26, 2019

·      Cardmembers get a chance to win an Audi A3 upon spending Rs 20,000 or more

New Delhi [Delhi/ Haryana], June 5, 2019 -  American Express India has introduced 10XwithAmex promotion for Cardmembers, enabling them to earn upto 10X Membership Reward points* while shopping or dining across participating DLF Shopping malls in Delhi-NCR and Chandigarh. Participating malls include DLF Cyber Hub (Gurgaon), DLF Promenade (Delhi), and DLF Mall of India (Noida). The offer is on till July 26, 2019 and is also applicable on supplementary cards.  The offer is also live at DLF City Centre, Chandigarh.

On cumulative spend of Rs. 20,000 or more during the offer period, American Express Cardmembers stand a chance to win an Audi A3. The winners will be announced in November 2019.

Consumers today are looking to get the most out of every experience, whether shopping, dining or spending time with family and friends. American Express understands this and is committed to fulfilling Cardmember needs across categories that they engage in – such as dining, retail, utilities and online spends. The Company’s merchant coverage has grown 3x in the last 5 years. Over 2,50,000 more retail points started accepting American Express cards in the last two years.

According to recently released findings by American Express, affluent Indians increased spending on premium categories in 2018. High-end fashion witnessed the largest spends, followed by jewellery and electronics. While jewellery spending dominated the share of spending till 2013, other segments have grown in share in the last five years. High-end fashion contributed 42% of total luxury spends in 2018. These findings are based on analysis of merchant spends at premium and luxury brands across the country.

These findings are in line with industry reports. According to BCG data, spending in smaller cities is rising by nearly 14% a year, and by 12% a year in India’s biggest cities, bringing with it a desire for faster gratification - to experience new things, live more premium lifestyles and buy international brands.

ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.  Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us onfacebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express,twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, InAuth, corporate card, business travel, and corporate responsibility.