India ranked at 40th place out of 137 countries in World Economic Competitiveness

By Shweta Arya

The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. Since 2004, the Global Competitiveness Report ranks countries based on the Global Competitiveness Index, integrating the macroeconomic and the micro/business aspects into a single index.                                                            

For the year 2017, on a list of 137 economies, Switzerland stands at the first place, followed by the US at second and Singapore at third place. India remains the most competitive country in South Asia, appearing at No.40, while neighboring China is ranked at 27th. India's ranking is one lower than last year’s, but the two rankings are not comparable because of a change in the methodology this year.

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 its 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. The yearly meeting brings together some 2,500 top business leaders, international political leaders, economists, and journalists for up to four days to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world.

India's score has improved across most aspects of competitiveness. These include infrastructure (66th rank), higher education and training (75th rank) and technological readiness (107th rank), information and communication technologies also saw a good improvement, reflecting recent beneficial public investments in these areas.

However, as stated by WEF’s Executive Opinion Survey 2017, corruption still remains the most troublesome factor for doing business in India. Access to financing, uneven tax rates, inadequate supply of infrastructure, poor work ethics in national labour force and inadequately educated work force are some other gridlocks affecting the rank. Hence, India needs a greater improvement in the mentioned problematic areas to rise above in the world competitiveness scenario.