India Falls 10 Places On The Global Competitiveness Index

India has fallen ten places on the annual list ranking global competitiveness of countries around the world, mainly due to improvements made by other economies.

In the Global Competitiveness Index compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), Singapore topped the list this year replacing the US as the most competitive economy in the world.

India was placed on the 68th spot on the index, down by ten places from its previous year's ranking of 58. It was among the worst-performing BRICS nations on the index along with Brazil, which is ranked even lower at 71st position.

Announcing its latest index, the WEF said on Wednesday that India ranks high in terms of macroeconomic stability and market size, while its financial sector is relatively deep and stable despite the high delinquency rate, which contributes to weakening the soundness of its banking system.

India was also above its development status when it comes to innovation. In fact, it was well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies, the report said.

However, major shortcomings were observed by the WEF on basic enablers of competitiveness like limited ICT (information, communications and technology) adoption, poor health conditions and low healthy life expectancy.

The WEF said the drop of 10 places in India's position to 68th place may look dramatic, but the decline in the country's competitiveness score is relatively small. The decline is also because similarly-placed economies including Colombia, South Africa and Turkey have improved over the past year overtaking India.

The GCI measures competitiveness landscape of 141 economies through 103 indicators organised into 12 pillars.

The index named Singapore as the world's most competitive economy in 2019, pushing the US to the second place. Hong Kong SAR was in the third position, followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland.