NEW YORK - With India’s economy deteriorating and corruption scandals rocking the government, Indians have lost faith in their economic fortunes, according to a survey released Monday by the Pew Research Centre.“The economic euphoria in India over the last few years, inspired by the country’s seemingly inevitable march toward double-digit growth, has suddenly soured,” the survey said.Only 38 percent of Indians were satisfied with the direction that the country had taken, a 13 percent drop from last year and the largest such dip in 17 countries surveyed in both 2011 and 2012. India’s satisfaction trails China and Brazil but still exceeds the United States where only 29 percent were happy about their country’s state of affairs. In China and Brazil, 82 percent and 53 percent of people are satisfied with their country’s overall direction.About eight in 10 Indians interviewed said the shape of the economy, unemployment and rising prices were “very big problems,” the report said.‘In a world where the Americans, the Europeans and even the Chinese have reason to worry about their economies, it is the Indians who have lost the greatest faith in their economic fortunes,” it added. India’s economy grew a disappointing 5.5 percent in the last quarter ending June, a sharp slowdown from the 8 percent growth in the same period a year ago.The disappointing state of the economy reflects the complete disarray of the Congress party-led government, which has been embroiled in a host of corruption scandals. Opposition parties paralysed Parliament in protest, leaving the government unable to push through crucial economic reforms.“Pakistan is a neuralgic concern for Indians,” it added.Nevertheless, seven-in-ten overall think it is important to improve relations, including through resolution of the Kashmir dispute (77%), increased trade (64%) and further negotiations (58%), the survey said.The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project conducted interviews with 4,018 India from March 17 to April 20, 2012.The survey said, “Since the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, the Indo-Pakistani relationship has been fraught with tension, manifesting itself in several wars, ongoing border disputes and terrorist incidents.“About six-in-ten Indians (59%) see Pakistan as a very serious threat to India. Pakistan is viewed as a far greater menace than Lashkar-i-Taiba, an extremist organization, the Naxalite Maoist domestic insurgency (which in 2011 was blamed for about 600 deaths) or the security challenge posed by China, which fought a war with India in 1962 and in recent years has periodically massed troops on India’s northeastern frontier.“Despite their generally unfavourable sentiment toward their northwestern neighbour, Indians are strongly supportive of improving relations with their long-time adversary. Seven-in-ten Indians think it is important to improve ties with Pakistan and nearly two-thirds (64%) back increased Indo-Pakistani trade. An overwhelming 77% think it is important to resolve the Kashmir dispute and 58% favour further talks to reduce India-Pakistan tensions.“Indians and Pakistanis see their often fractious relationship in a similarly negative light. But both want their bilateral relations to improve.“Each has an unfavourable view of the other, but Pakistani sentiment is more intense: 72% of Pakistanis see India unfavourably, with more than half (55%) viewing their neighbour very unfavourably. And 57% of Pakistanis see India as a very serious threat.“But majorities in both countries want to see their governments pursue efforts to better cross-border ties. Seven-in-ten Indians and roughly six-in-ten Pakistanis (62%) think it is important to improve relations. Nearly two-thirds of both Indians and Pakistanis say that increased trade between the two countries would be a good thing. But, while supportive, Indians are less-intensely focused than Pakistanis on resolving the Kashmir dispute. About six-in-ten Indians (59%) say it is very important to resolve Indo-Pakistani differences over that region, compared with roughly eight-in-ten Pakistanis (79%) who hold such strong sentiments.”