For all those who think India is shrinking to the new lows in terms of economy as well as on International politics, the latest GCI report is the answer. As clearly mentioned by GCI report 2016-17, India grabbed the 39th position in World’s most competitive countries. It is to be noted that India escalated 32 positions in the last two years. And those who think that GCI may be partial towards India, it is not an Indian survey. The report is released by World Economic Forum and for the second year in a row, India climbed 16 positions to occupy the 39th spot in the global competitiveness index. According to the World Economic Forum, India showed the biggest improvement in the rankings as compared to other nations. There are various parameters for such rankings and it says that India’s competitiveness has increased on several fronts including innovation, business sophistication and efficiency in the goods market.
The report says, “Thanks to improved monetary and fiscal policies, as well as lower oil prices, the Indian economy has stabilized and now boasts the highest growth among G20 countries. Recent reform efforts have concentrated on improving public institutions, opening the economy to foreign investors and international trade, and increasing transparency in the financial system.”
The WEF explains its set of definition for competitiveness as, “set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country”. There are altogether 12 parameters on the basis of which the competitiveness of every country is measured including health, primary education, infrastructure, institutions and macroeconomic environment among others.
It is very fruitful for every Indian to know that India climbed 32 positions in the ranking as in 2014-15, it stood at 71st position in 144 nations as compared to 55th spot in 2015-16 rankings and 39th spot in 2016-17 rankings.
While in the continuous, the top three spots have been spotted by Switzerland, Singapore and the US, whereas China stood at 28th position. Among BRICS nations, India comes only after China as Russia, South Africa, and Brazil occupied 43rd, 47th, and 81st places, respectively.
The report also suggests some important areas as well on which our country should focus including, use of technology, infrastructure development and efficiencies in the labor market. The report said, “The efficiency of the domestic market is hindered by fiscal regulations that allow federal states to levy different levels of value-added taxes; large publicly owned enterprises further reduce the overall efficiency of the economy…. Finally, lack of infrastructure and ICT use remain bottlenecks.”
Overall, it is considered to be a good start as the country and analytics have started showing progress reports from various sectors and the hard work of our Prime Minister and his team truly deserves an appreciation for it.
