The WEF released the latest ranking whereby they rank a list of 138 countries in “Competitive Index.” The report “assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens. This in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources. Therefore, the Global Competitiveness Index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity.”
This ranking report is released each year and this year, and India ranks 39 up from 55 the previous year.
Here are the key areas used to assess the position of a country:
- Institutions
- Infrastructure
- Macroeconomics environment
- Health and primary education
- Higher education and training
- Goods market efficiency
- Labor market efficiency
- Financial market development
- Technological readiness
- Market size
- Business sophistication
- Innovation
Here are the highlights from the report relevant to India:
- India is the fastest riser among all countries by rising 16 positions in one year. If you take previous two years, India has risen 32 points !!!
- India’s overall competitiveness score was rather stagnant between 2007 and 2014, but after the new government had come to power, a bunch of policies enacted by the government started bearing fruits.
- Improvements in health, primary education and infrastructure contributed most to this enhancement.
- On health and basic education, India almost halved its rate of infant mortality (from 62 to 37.9 per 1,000), increased life expectancy (from62 to 68) and primary education enrollment (from 88.8% to 93.1%).
- Improvements in infrastructure were small and faltering until 2014 when the government increased public investment and accelerated approval procedures to attract private resources.
- Another improvement over the past decade has been increased market size.
- Technological readiness is now India’s weakest spot relative to other pillars, and should be a government priority.
The table below shows the rank of India over the years:
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2012-13 | 59 |
| 2013-14 | 60 |
| 2014-15 | 71 |
| 2015-16 | 55 |
| 2016-17 | 39 |
SOURCES:
- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/09/what-is-competitiveness?utm_content=bufferfa838&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/09/these-are-the-world-s-most-competitive-economies?utm_content=bufferb3ec6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
- http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-2017_FINAL.pdf