The Hindu Business Line : India drops in competitiveness index

The country has been placed 29th in a list of 55 economies assessed for competitiveness by the IMD — a leading business school based in Lausanne, Switzerland — with Thailand and the Czech Republic forging ahead.

Within the emerging economy space, India has been rated below Singapore (2), Hong Kong (3), Taiwan (13), China (17), Malaysia (19) and even Estonia (23) and Chile (26). However, it has been adjudged more competitive vis-À-vis the likes of South Korea (31), Brazil (43), Russia (47), Mexico (50), Indonesia (51), Argentina (52) and South Africa (53).

331 criteria

IMD’s rankings are derived from 331 competitiveness criteria revolving around four basic parameters of economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

Predictably, India scores worst in infrastructure, particularly in respect to energy, broadband infrastructure, access to water, primary education, health and environment.

On the other hand, it fares relatively well in ‘business efficiency’ (extent to which the national environment encourages enterprises to be innovative and profitable), ‘government efficiency’ and ‘economic performance’ (macroeconomic fundamentals).

Among individual competitiveness criteria, India ranks in the top five when it comes to ‘real GDP growth’, ‘resilience of the economy to economic cycles’, ‘growth in foreign investment (both inward and overseas)’, ‘consumption tax rate’, ‘real personal taxes’, ‘exchange rate stability’, ‘listed domestic companies’, ‘attitudes towards globalisation’, ‘image abroad’, ‘market size’, ‘mobile telephone and internet costs’, ‘science teaching in schools’ and ‘availability of qualified engineers’.

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