It's the ultimate irony! A recent global survey of preparedness for retirement conducted by Cicero Consultancy for HSBC Insurance, found Indians, by their own admission, to be most prepared for retirement. Even better, they also claimed to have the greatest understanding of their long-term finances.

As for their claim to sound understanding of long-term finances, this is even harder to reconcile with the ground reality of abysmal levels of financial literacy in the country.

So what explains the findings of the Survey? One possibility is that since it covered those with internet access in cities across the world it is quite likely the Indians surveyed were from the better-off sections of society (since internet access is still a rich man’s prerogative in India).

Even so, at a time when just 25% of Britons and 13% worldwide feel adequately prepared for retirement, the fact that 42% of Indians surveyed were not particularly anxious about their sunset years is rather surprising. It certainly doesn’t bode well for pension reform. After all if 50% of the population has no anxieties about making both ends meet in their old-age, it’s unlikely they are going to do anything much to provide for their old age!

The other possibility, one that is far more likely, is a combination of good old Indian fatalism combined with faith in family support systems. But the first may not be of much use when it comes to actually putting up with the vicissitudes of old age and the second is increasingly proving misplaced. Did someone say ignorance is bliss?