Nearly seven in ten Indians believe that India's global influence has been getting stronger under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an opinion poll of Indian adults by American fact tank Pew Research Center has found.
19 percent of those polled believed that India's global influence has been declining under Prime Minister Modi, while 13 percent said that the country's global standing has remained the same.
A total of 2,511 Indian adults were interviewed for the survey between 25 March and 11 May, Pew said.
It's worth noting that the Pew findings were released less than two weeks ahead of the G-20 Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September. The summit will be attended by major global leaders and multilateral organizations.
Most Indians Choose Modi Over Rahul Gandhi
The survey showed that about 80 percent of Indians hold a favourable view of Prime Minister Modi, who has been in power since 2014 and is eyeing a third consecutive term in power in the federal election scheduled next year.
Around a fifth of those polled hold an "unfavourable" view of the Indian Prime Minister, Pew said.
The survey showed that six in 10 Indians hold favourable views towards Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who was reinstated as a parliamentarian by the country's apex Supreme Court this month after being removed as an MP following his conviction in a defamation case by a trial court in March.
Nearly 34 percent of Indians hold an unfavourable view of Gandhi, who is viewed as a potential contender for the PM's chair by many of Congress party supporters.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the current Congress party president, polled favourably among 46 percent of the survey respondents, while roughly 30 percent of the respondents expressed an unfavourable opinion about him.
Most Indians View Russia Favourably, Survey Shows
The Pew survey has found that most of the Indians hold a "favourable view" of Russia, including 23 percent of the respondents who said that they view Moscow "very favourably".
It reported that India was the only surveyed country where a majority of the survey respondents held a favourable view of Russia.
The survey found that a majority of Indians have "confidence" in President Vladimir Putin's ability to the "right thing regarding world affairs". And nearly 19 percent of Indians said that they have a "lot of confidence" in Putin's abilities.
Oil Politics More Important When Dealing With Russia
Significantly, a majority of Indians "prioritized maintaining access to Russian oil and gas over being tough with Russia on Ukraine," according to the survey.
New Delhi has also rejected west-led calls to vote against Russia at the United Nations (UN).