India ranks 43 on competitiveness index
The annual ranking, by Switzerland-based Institute for Management Development, assesses the extent to which a country promotes the prosperity of its people by measuring economic well-being
India’s position has remained unchanged at 43 for the third year in a row in the World Competitiveness Ranking by Switzerland-based Institute for Management Development (IMD).
The annual ranking of 64 countries assesses the extent to which a country promotes the prosperity of its people by measuring economic well-being through hard data and survey responses from executives. This year, the rankings exposed the economic impact of pandemic across the globe. The report finds that qualities such as investment in innovation, digitalization, welfare benefits and leadership resulting in social cohesion have helped countries better weather the crisis and thus ranked higher in competitiveness.
Among the four indices used, India’s ranking in government efficiency increased to 46 from 50 a year ago, while its ranking in other parameters such as economic performance (37), business efficiency (32) and infrastructure (49) remained the same.
“India’s improvements in the Government Efficiency factor are mostly due to relatively stable public finances (e.g., despite difficulties brought by the pandemic, in 2020 the government deficit stayed at 7%) and to the positive feedbacks we registered among Indian business executives with respect to the support and subsidies provided by the government to the private companies," the report said.
Among the sub-indices for government efficiency, India’s ranking in public finance (41), business legislation (43) and societal framework (53) improved while tax policy (34) deteriorated and institutional framework remained unchanged (45).
The report said India’s strengths lie in investments in telecoms (1), mobile telephone costs (1), ICT services exports (3), remuneration in services professions (4) and terms of trade index (5), while its performance is the worst in sub-indices such as broadband subscribers (64), exposure to particle pollution (64), human development index (64), GDP per capita (63) and foreign currency reserves per capita (62) among others.
From a list of 15 indicators, respondents of the Executive Opinion Survey were asked to select five that they perceived as the key attractiveness factors of the Indian economy. While skilled workforce (66.4%), dynamism of the economy (64.5%), cost competitiveness (62.7%), high educational level (50%) and open and positive attitude (44.5%) topped the list, effective labour relations (13.6%), reliable infrastructure (14.5%), competitive tax regime (16.4%), quality of corporate governance (18.2%) and strong R&D culture (19.1%) were voted to be India’s weakest links.
In 2021, Switzerland replaced Singapore (5) to top the ranking list while the US remained stable at tenth position and China jumped four places to be at 16th position.
The report said the changes in ranking from the previous year point to which countries may have been better prepared for a global crisis, and which aspects of their economies appeared to be most resilient through it.
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