India's global competitiveness up a notch
The country is ranked 44, among 63 nations, in the World Competitiveness Rankings, up one place from last year
Starting out as a newswire journalist covering beats as diverse as business, politics, entertainment, crime, civic affairs, cricket and defence, I was keen to pursue a career in print or broadcast journalism. But the emerging world of multimedia storytelling promised a fascinating future, and I changed my focus to digital media more than a decade ago. Before Forbes India, I have worked for organisations such as ANI, Money Control, Arabian Business, Yahoo India and VFS Global. I hold master's degrees in Communication Studies (University of Pune, India) and Journalism (University of Westminster, London, UK).
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Credit: ShutterstockIndia’s competitiveness improved a notch in 2018, according to the World Competitiveness Rankings compiled by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) World Competitiveness Center. IMD’s rankings are considered an important barometer in assessing the competitiveness of countries.
This year, India is ranked 44 among 63 nations, up one place from last year. The US is perched on top of the list followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, The Netherlands and Switzerland.
The research group based at the IMD business school in Lausanne, uses 258 indicators including cost competitiveness, dynamism of the economy, skilled workforce and high educational levels to gauge competitiveness.
This year, India is ranked 44 among 63 nations, up one place from last year. The US is perched on top of the list followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, The Netherlands and Switzerland.
The research group based at the IMD business school in Lausanne, uses 258 indicators including cost competitiveness, dynamism of the economy, skilled workforce and high educational levels to gauge competitiveness.
Among the indicators, India’s infrastructure ranking saw a huge improvement of six spots to 56, due to an increase in both basic and technological infrastructure rankings. India ranked 1st in investments in telecom, 6th in real GDP growth and exchange rate stability.
The gross fixed capital formation (a measure of the amount of investment in the country) has grown by 7.6 percent, compared with a growth of just 0.57 percent last year. Stock market capitalisation also saw an exponential growth of 90.58 percent from last year. The Indian government’s efforts to help run businesses efficiently also reflected in the corresponding rating, which improved by 5.22 percent in 2018.
Indicators where India failed to pass the muster, include real GDP growth, which declined to 6.6 percent compared with 7.6 percent last year. Rankings based on international investments, too, dropped to 38 from 22 last year.
The gross fixed capital formation (a measure of the amount of investment in the country) has grown by 7.6 percent, compared with a growth of just 0.57 percent last year. Stock market capitalisation also saw an exponential growth of 90.58 percent from last year. The Indian government’s efforts to help run businesses efficiently also reflected in the corresponding rating, which improved by 5.22 percent in 2018.
Indicators where India failed to pass the muster, include real GDP growth, which declined to 6.6 percent compared with 7.6 percent last year. Rankings based on international investments, too, dropped to 38 from 22 last year.
Source: IMD World Competitiveness Center
The report also highlights some key challenges the country faces such as skilling of manpower and employment generation, streamlining the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), balancing high growth with sustainable development goals, digital literacy and adequate bandwidth at rural areas and mobilization of resources for infrastructure development. 
