Indians second-most romantic lot in Asia: Survey

But India is the only place in the region where more women want their men to foot the bill for the day as against a parity in spending between the sexes elsewhere.

Indians are second only to Filipinos in celebrating the Day, according to the survey conducted by GE Money across Asia.

However, in terms of spending for the Valentine's Day, Singaporean, Chinese and Koreans came on the top, while Thais would spend the least.

The survey results revealed parity in spending between the sexes for Valentine's Day across Asia, except in India. In India, 21 per cent of females said that their men should spend between 500-5,000 dollars on this day, a view shared by only 7 per cent of men, GE Money said.

Fifty per cent of the Indian respondents said they would spend same as 2007, while 38 per cent indicated a likeliness to spend more this season.

Overall, Japanese men emerged as the least romantic with only 16 per cent indicating they would celebrate the day.

The survey also found that Asian women would spend more than the men.

For funding the day's spending, Indian and Thais said they would use a mix of cash and credit cards, while over 60 per cent of Filipinos and Japanese would use cash and close to 92 per cent Koreans expressed their likeness for credit cards.

According to the survey, Indians were not as organised as their Asian peers who complete their Valentine's shopping one week before, with 76 per cent of Indians saying they shopped just a day before.

The most desired Valentine's Day gift for both Indian men and women are flowers, while cash is the least favoured gift, as indicated in the survey.

The survey was conducted among more than 3,115 GE Money Asia and Joint Venture Partner employees across eight markets including India, China, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.

Overall, results showed that 55 per cent of participants planned to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, with 83 per cent of these being 35 years or below. Forty-three per cent of respondents indicated being married, 16 per cent in a relationship, 3 per cent engaged and 28 per cent single.

GE Money said the survey was conducted to better understand how people live their lives at work and in leisure, and the role that consumer finance can play to help them achieve their goals.

When asked to rate their three most desirable gifts, Asian women chose flowers and jewellery for the top two positions, while travel and chocolates tied for the third.

For Asian men, the most desired gifts were chocolate, flowers and jewellery. Asian men and women agreed that cash and soft toys are their least desired gifts this Valentine's Day.

About 36 per cent of Japanese women and 30 per cent of Indian men agreed that Valentine's Day gifts should be luxury brands, compared with a regional average of 19 per cent for both men and women.