India ranks 40th in Global Competitiveness Index, 3rd among BRICS nations

New Delhi: India has been placed at 40th spot in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2017-18.

According to a World Economic Forum report, India is ranked 40th among 137 economies on the Global Competitiveness Index.

Switzerland, United States, and Singapore continue to be the world’s top three competitive economies, while China (27th) and Russia (38th) outshine India among the BRICS group of large emerging markets.

According to the WEF report, India is 3rd among the BRICS countries on the Global Competitiveness Index.

The WEF report highlights that India, which remains the top-ranked economy in South Asia, has significantly improved in infrastructure, higher education, and labour market efficiency.

“Among the emerging markets seen as having great potential in the early 2000s, Brazil and Turkey have now lost much of the ground they gained before 2013, but China, India and Indonesia continue to improve,” the WEF report said.

While India has been placed at the 40th spot, it is one position lower than last year. However, media reports quoted the WEF as saying that though India's ranking is one lower than last year’s, the two rankings cannot be  compared because of a change in the methodology.  

The GCI report, which measures the factors that are crucial to future productivity and prosperity of countries, highlights how 10 years after the 2008 global crisis the financial sector is still vulnerable and unprepared for the next wave of innovation and automation.

The WEF report comes at a time when India is trying hard to improve the 2017-18 ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing the business survey.

It is to be noted that the GCI scores are calculated on the basis of 12 categories called ‘pillars of competitiveness’, which include parameters like institutions, infrastructure, health and primary education, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness and market size.