In the annual rankings of nations, compiled by International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in respect of competitiveness, India has moved a notch higher to 44th rank while the US tops the list.

In the top-10 list the other economies which rank the highest in terms of competitiveness include Denmark, UAE, Norway, Sweden and Canada.

Meanwhile, China due to its upbeat domestic economy and employment outlook is placed on the 13th spot.

New inclusion in the list of 63 nations includes Saudi Arabia and Cyprus.

In contrast, India holds the 12th rank as the most competitive economy when taking into account other 14 Asian nations in the list.

The report in respect of India holds the view that "some of the challenges which India has to face for the year 2018 would be skilling of manpower and employment generation, streamlining the implementation of goods and services tax and balancing high growth with sustainable development goals".

The report further added "digital literacy and adequate bandwidth at rural areas and mobilisation of resources for infrastructure development needs are few more key areas where the government needs to concentrate".

The IMD World Competitiveness Center, which is a research consortium at Switzerland-based IMD business school has been publishing the rankings each year.

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