India jumps 5 places to rank 58th on WEF’s Global Competitive Index
19 Oct 2018
India has jumped five places to rank 58th in the latest edition of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index — clocking largest gain among G-20 economies – gaining from a high-level of innovation.
India, the world’s sixth largest economy, is continuing with its steady rise on global platforms amidst domestic troubles of widening current account deficit and high bad loans.
“India is a remarkable example of a country that has been able to accelerate on the pathway to innovation (where it now ranks 31st, with a score of 53.8), due, particularly, to the quality of its research institutions,” the WEF said in the report.
The recent jump in the WEF index follows similar progress in the United Nations’ E-Government index and World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index. India jumped 22 ranks in last four years on the E-Government index, which measures the level of digitisation in governance. The biggest shot came last year when India leapfrogged 30 places to secure a place in the top 100 nations on the Ease of Doing Business index.
The United States continues to top the WEF list of 140 nations, followed by Singapore and Germany at second and third ranks, respectively.
India’s neighbour and G-20 member China is way ahead of India at 28th rank. The report noted that both India and China are “catching up with or even outperforming the average among high-income economies”.
The WEF, while calling India the main driving force for South Asia, was critical of its “less-efficient bureaucracy” for rising insolvency among businesses. “In spite of a high degree of entrepreneurship, business dynamism is hampered by administrative hurdles,” the report said, advising India to open up its trade.
The Switzerland-based global platform also asked India to step up efforts to make the best use of its extremely young population. India is set to become the youngest nation by 2020 with an average age of just 29
“More investments will be necessary to spur innovation beyond hubs of excellence and diffuse economic growth more broadly. This includes continuing to widen the adoption of ICT technologies and improving the quality and conditions of human capital across the country, taking advantage of an extremely young population,” the report said.