India climbs in WEF’s rankings after 5 years of decline

In what will sound as good news to the Narendra Modi government, India has risen 16 spots on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Index this year.

In its competitiveness rankings for 2015-16 released late on Tuesday, India has climbed 16 places to the 55 spot, even as Switzerland remains the most competitive economy in the world. India’s rise comes after a continuous five year decline, the report said. The government has sought to make India a manufacturing hub and has been tom tomming its flagship ‘Make in India’ campaign. 

The WEF attributed India’s steep advance 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”. 

The WEF said that in terms of quality of institutions, India moved up 10 places to the 60th spot, even as business leaders considered corruption to be the biggest obstacle that mars the country’s business environment. 

Apart from corruption, access to finance, an unstable policy framework and inflation remain areas of concern when it comes to doing business in India.

“The fact that the most notable improvements are in the basic drivers of competitiveness bodes well for the future, especially the development of the manufacturing sector,” the report noted. “But other areas also deserve attention, including technological readiness: India remains one of the least digitally connected countries in the world. 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 went on to say.

While Brazil and Turkey have registered steep declines, China, ranked 28th remains the most competitive large economy in the world, out of the 140 surveyed by the WEF for its global ranking.

Apart from Switzerland, Singapore, US, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden and the UK, make up for the top ten countries on the list.

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