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The massive population of India is perhaps its greatest strength.
The country's favorable demographic trend has earned it a ranking of 58 out of 140 in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) latest global competitiveness index. This is mainly because it is the world's third largest market after China and the United States, according to the WEF report (pdf).
The report calls the index a compilation of indicators defining the productivity and economic success of a country.
Although India's ranking is 18 places compared to last year, the WEF said that the 2018 index used a majority of new factors such as the diversity of the workforce, workers, electronic governance and disruptive activities. "If we put back our new methodology until 2017, this indicates a rise of five places in the ranking (Indian)," said the WEF.
"It's the biggest gain among all the G20 economies. India is the leader of the South Asian economies, "he added.
The United States surpassed the index for the first time in ten years. Switzerland was at the top of the rankings last year.
Here is the list of the best performances of this year, with the BRICS countries:
| Rank | Country |
|---|---|
| 1 | United States |
| 2 | Singapore |
| 3 | Germany |
| 4 | Swiss |
| 5 | Japan |
| 28 | China |
| 43 | Russia |
| 58 | India |
| 67 | South Africa |
| 72 | Brazil |
Strengths
The WEF acknowledged that the big Indian market was its main asset. India was also among the best in four sub-categories.
| India ranks among the top 10 countries: |
|---|
| Shareholder governance |
| Airport Connectivity |
| GDP per capita (per purchasing power parity) |
| Quality of research institutions |
"China … is already more advanced in terms of investment in research and development … than the average high-income economy, while India is not far behind and that It is only let down by its less effective bureaucracy in business creation and insolvency "The WEF report says. "The catch-up process is reflected in the emergence of Chinese and Indian companies in technology-intensive sectors."
challenges
The WEF report points to several socio-economic indicators where India is lagging behind.
"Indian companies can access the world's third largest market, but the country would benefit from increased trade openness to boost productivity growth," the report says. "More investment will be needed to stimulate innovation beyond clusters of excellence and to broaden economic growth."
| India ranks among the 20 worst-off countries: |
|---|
| Women's participation in the labor market |
| Commercial Rates |
| Incidence of terrorism |
The country also has a student-teacher ratio in schools (35.2), an insolvency recovery rate of 26.4 cents for every dollar, and imports account for 23% of its GDP.
Although India has the second largest number of smartphone users, the mobile and Internet penetration rate is still low and it takes 29.8 days to start a business in the country .
The report also states that "the relatively weak performance on bank strength and regulatory capital ratios" is holding back the stability of the Indian financial system.
