Old is no longer just gold, they are getting bold too. Generally considered to

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be risk-averse and much less optimistic about life, these grey-haired investors seem to be more optimistic about the Indian economy than hot-blooded youngsters.

A survey of more then 1,600 retail investors in the country by JP Morgan Asset Management and ValueNotes, a market research firm, found that investors between 50-55 years of age were the most confident with a score of 160 points, just ahead of the usually buoyant 25-30 age group with a score of 159 points.

The seniors have become more bullish even as the confidence of the Indian investment community dropped marginally since the previous survey in February 2010.

“Older and younger investors differ in their confidence levels this quarter due to their opinion on an improvement in the investment environment...The surge in older investors’ confidence is reflected in their outlook towards improvement in the Indian economy and increasing the amount of investments over the next six months,” Arun Jethmalani, managing director of ValueNotes, told Financial Chronicle.

The survey, the fourth wave of the investment confidence index (ICI), covered retail investors with an investment wallet size of more than Rs 2 lakh in eight cities including Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad. Almost 60 per cent of them were private sector employees, 35 per cent were self-employed and the rest included public sector employees.

In July 2009, when the first survey was done, there was a clear trend of confidence declining with a rise in age. However, the rise in confidence among older respondents, especially in the last two surveys, has resulted in their level of optimism surpassing that of younger respondents. In fact, the confidence score of the 50-55 age group has risen to 160 from 134 in July 2009.

However, people close retirement, ie those in the 55-60 year age group, remained the most pessimistic with a confidence score of 132 points. But those who have crossed the retirement age, ie 60 years and above, were again very bullish with a score of 158 points, coming in third among the nine age groups surveyed.

Among others, the 22-25 year age group scored 154 points, 30-35 year age group 147 points, 35-40 year age group 154 points, 40-45 year age group 141 points, and 45-50 year age group 156 points.

The investment confidence index scores are derived from responses to six questions on the Indian economy, the general investment market environment, the global economic environment, the BSE Sensex, investment portfolio and the amount of mutual fund investments.

Christopher Spelman, chief executive officer of JP Morgan Asset Management, said, “The Indian investor community continues to maintain its optimism about investment inflows. Though the ICI has seen some volatility in the last couple of quarters, the current levels suggest an overall confidence in the long-term resilience of the Indian economy.”