India slips 10 places to 112th in economic freedom index

Despite having a supposedly business-friendly Narendra Modi-led BJP government in place, India has slipped by as many as 10 positions to 112th out of 159 countries and territories in terms of economic freedom, as it ''fared badly'' across categories including legal system and regulation, according to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2016 Annual Report.

Although China, Bangladesh and Pakistan lagged behind India at 113th, 121st and 133th ranks respectively, Bhutan (78), Nepal (108) and Sri Lanka (111) were better placed on the World Economic Freedom Index.

''India has fared badly in all categories, i.e. legal system and property rights (86), sound money (130), freedom to trade internationally (144) and regulation (132) - except on the size of the government (8),'' the report said.

At the top of the index were the usual suspects: Hong Kong has the highest level of economic freedom worldwide, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Mauritius, the UAE, Australia, and the UK.

The 10 lowest-ranked countries are Iran, Algeria, Chad, Guinea, Angola, Central African Republic, Argentina, Republic of Congo, Libya and lastly Venezuela.

India's leading public policy think tank, Centre for Civil Society, has published the report in collaboration with Canada's Fraser Institute. The report is based on data from 2014 and measures economic freedom by analysing the policies and institutions of all 159 countries and territories.