A new BBC World poll says that people in the Philippines, South Korea, France, Finland and Brazil think India is a negative influence on the world (via Style Station).
Pakistan was not polled. On the other hand, Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the UK and Russia rate India highly. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the African countries polled are most neutral about India, while Sri Lanka and India are most neutral about the U.S.
Though India’s global profile has grown significantly over the last year, it fails to elicit strong feelings… The exceptions are two Muslim countries with positive views: Iran (71% positive) and Afghanistan (59% positive). The only country with widespread negative views is the Philippines (57% negative). Notably, India’s small neighbor Sri Lanka has a mere 4 percent reporting negative views and a robust 49 percent expressing a positive one.
Europeans are divided about India. At the positive end of the spectrum is Great Britain (49% positive, 30% negative) and Russia (47% positive, 10% negative), while at the other end are France and Finland–both being 27 percent positive and 44 percent negative. The US leans slightly positively (39% positive, 35% negative). [Link]
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p>India has the strange distinction of being most loved by the most hated, Iran. Forty-three percent of the Indians polled seemed only lukewarm about their own country:
Interestingly, Indians themselves are the most tepid or modest in their self-estimates. While in most countries a large majority give their country a positive rating, among Indians only 47 percent give India a positive rating, but only 10 percent give it a negative rating. [Link]
The Philippines and Brazil are economic competitors of India. The others are more puzzling: South Korea is an economic partner, France has long-standing cultural ties to India, and the Finns might enjoy the weather 
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p>Globally, the most disliked countries are Iran, the U.S. and Russia. The African countries polled and some where the U.S. assisted against political repression (Poland, Afghanistan) are the most appreciative of the U.S.
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p>Style Station points out that the sample sizes (and, for that matter, the methodologies) vary widely across countries, so take the poll with a grain of salt.
Here’s the source and methodology.
Update: The Unlawyer and Alok provide a possible answer: Indian money lenders who overstay their visas in the Philippines, provide loans at high interest rates and are then extorted by corrupt immigration police.
Rep. Imee Marcos of Ilocos Norte, vice chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, criticized the Bureau of Immigration on Thursday for going after Indians behind the so-called 5-6 usury system…Marcos said that even if the 5-6 system imposes an interest rate on borrowers beyond the limit set by law, poor Filipinos have been able to set up small businesses because of the illegal loans…
“Instead of helping these Indians whom we commonly refer to as ‘Bombays,’ having been in our communities a long time now, these scoundrels [immigration officials] are scaring them stiff,” Marcos said… the SIRV has instead become an instrument through which unscrupulous immigration-police syndicate members victimize Indians… “These Indians are often apprehended but never jailed . . . they are constantly milked of their earnings,” Marcos said. [Link]
Related post: The Global Popularity Contest
With all due respect, how many Indians give a f*** about Philippines or Finlnd? S Korea and France are more intriguing. S.Korea has one of its largest trading relationships with India and Korean comapnieslike Samsung and Hyundai are household names in India. France is a narcissist culture, I’d be surprized if they like anyone at all, other than themselves of course.
France gets such a bad press in America, and I see all Americans have bought into it as opposed to just the neocon crew. And that’s the funny thing – Americans dislike France before the war, but that galvanised things. Weird. I love France. Not everything about it, but what country could one say they loved everything about?
I see all Americans have bought into it as opposed to just the neocon crew
Bong Breaker,
No
The east coast elite (the people who frequent Harvard, Princeton, Kerrys) and Cajuns (from South Louisiana) are serious Francophiles. My karate sensei (a cajun guy) in Lafayette only had French or Cajun girlfriends – they had to have some France. He is France right now
In fact, Universities in South Louisiana are established scholarly centers of French culture outside of France.
It is complicated goes back to deGaulle – Eisenhower days.
I see all Americans have bought into it as opposed to just the neocon crew
no. not that i’ll blame you for that perception since i’ve talked to repubican friends who assume that i will dislike france as much as they seem to. this is a big country of 300 million. foreigners should remember that, and so should many americans.
I know this isn’t exactly a scientififc observation, but the philippinos disliking Indians makes some sense to me. I had two philippino kids in my globalization and media class and they railed against India at every opportunity. They had this intense dislike for Bollywood and Indian media products and always tried to goad me into discussions of Bollywood even though I made it clear that I didn’t grow up watching Bollywood movies and don’t know anything about the industry one way or the other. Maybe it has to do with a regional cultural imperialism thing?
oops, I meant scientific.
Look at the other results, Nigerians seem to like everyone… except Iran, of course.
Wonder why the BBC didn’t poll the occupied nation of Kashmir? I can understand the subservient and hindutva contolled hindustani media not caring to ask the opinion of Kashmiri’s, but I expected a fair shake from the BBC. Shame on them.
I have met very few French people in my life, and I got the impression they liked India, especially because it was an ancient (and very different) culture etc. They also seemed to like Indian food a lot, though not to the extent the British do (understatement). Most of them, however, seemed to fit into this (American/British) stereotype of cultural snobs and disliked the USA (“they have no culture”). Some of them also sounded a little vacuous about political/global affairs, even as they railed against globalisation etc. All in all, though, it’s still intriguing.
I can’t imagine why Phillipines would have such a negative view of India. Most Indians don’t know much about the country (we are too USA-UK obsessed, and the English language helps in that regard), but I would think most Indians will have neutral views, if any, about them. Surprising.
Here is the probable explanation for why India is held in low esteem by Philippinos:
I remember reading the original Time article many years ago.
Was really surprised to say the Filipinos dislike Indians. I have been working in Manila for about 15 months now and all the interactions I have had with the locals has been positive. They are pretty friendly and casual Filipino friends always shown interest in knowing about India……….have not heard a disparaging remark about India. My Filipino colleagues have made me feel pretty welcome and go out of their way to be helpful.
Also lived in Thailand for about 11 years (finished high school and undergrad there) and felt less welcome there than in Philippines. Infact during a drinking session (about a month back) after a hectic meeting my Thai colleague remarked to me “Thais don’t really like Indians”……….just hope it was the alcohol talking!!!!
” I had two philippino kids in my globalization and media class and they railed against India at every opportunity. They had this intense dislike for Bollywood and Indian media products and always tried to goad me into discussions of Bollywood even though I made it clear that I didn’t grow up watching Bollywood movies and don’t know anything about the industry one way or the other.”
While flipping channels I always stop at the tagalog movie channels………man, bollywood and tagalog movies are brothers separated during the kumbh mela!!! Add some song and dance and lo and behold you have a bollywood movie in tagalog.
There is a reason why Filipinos “hate” India. Actual, it’s not India they hate, it’s the Indians that live in Philippines. There are about 170,000 Indians in the Philippines, most of them are traders and money lenders. Indians there are called “5-6” – give 5 and take 6. That’s what makes them unpopular. These Indians are what the Filipinos identify India with, and therefore probably “hate”.
I’m a Filipino working in IT. There is truth in what is said in the comments above (especially #62), but I think part of the ‘hate’ has to do with competition for IT, Outsourcing and Call Center jobs of which India has the lion’s share. As for me, I’ve worked in India and colleagues from India have also worked in the Philippines and i would consider the experience to be positive in general. I am hopeful that sometime in the future, such insular attitudes from my people will be replaced with healthy respect.
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