Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Sept 30: India leaped to the 55th position in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16’ which tracks the productivity and prosperity of 140 economies across the globe. “After five years of decline, India jumps 16 ranks to 55th place. This dramatic reversal is largely attributable to the momentum initiated by the election of Narendra Modi, whose pro-business, pro-growth, and anti-corruption stance has improved the business community’s sentiment toward the government,” WEF said in the report.
WEF assessed countries on 12 basis, namely — institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16 rated Indian institutions 10 places higher than 2014-15 (60th position) but highlighted that business leaders still consider corruption to be the biggest obstacle to doing business in the country. Similarly, India’s macro-economic stability pillar rose by 10 places, showing improvement but still remains worrisome (91st position). According to the report’s analysis, the Indian government’s budget deficit dropped from its 2008 peak but is still one of the world’s highest (131st position) amounting to seven percent of India’s GDP in 2014.
Though infrastructure improved by six places from the previous year (81st position), it is still a major growth bottleneck with electricity emerging as the biggest pain point, the report stated. Other areas deserving immediate attention, according to WEF, are India’s technological readiness as India is one of the least digitally connected countries in the world (120th position).
“Fewer than one in five Indians access the Internet on a regular basis, and fewer than two in five are estimated to own even a basic cell phone,” the WEF report stated. The report noted that lower commodity prices eased to six percent in 2014 declining from double-digit levels. The top 10 positions in the rankings are occupied by Switzerland, Singapore, the US, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Finland, Sweden and Britain.
