Releasing the annual Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) today said :
Down one position, India now ranks 60th, continuing its downward trend that began in 2009. With a GCI score essentially unchanged since then, India has been overtaken by a number of countries. Once ahead of Brazil and South Africa, it now trails them by several places and is behind China by a margin of 31 positions, while Russia (64th) has almost closed the gap.
India continues to be penalized for its very disappointing performance in the basic drivers underpinning competitiveness, the very ones that matter the most for India given its stage of development. The country’s supply of transport, ICTs, and energy infrastructure remains largely insufficient and ill-adapted to the needs of the economy (85th), despite the steady improvement that has been made since 2006.
The Indian business community repeatedly cites infrastructure as the single biggest hindrance to doing business, ahead of corruption and cumbersome bureaucracy. Notwithstanding improvements across the board over the past few years, very poor public health and education levels (102nd) remain a prime cause of India’s low productivity. The quality of higher education is better, but enrollment rates at that level remain very low, even by developing- country standards.
Turning to the country’s institutions (72nd, down two places), discontent within the business community remains high about the lack of reforms and the perceived inability of the government to push them through. Public trust in politicians has been eroding since 2009 and has now reached an all-time low at 115th, while bribery remains deeply rooted (110th).
Indeed, India has lost almost 30 ranks on this indicator since 2010. Meanwhile, the situation has deteriorated further on the macroeconomic front, with India now 110th in this pillar.
The inflation rate and public deficit-to-GDP ratio were dangerously close to double digits in 2012, and the debtto-GDP ratio is the second highest among the BRICS.
Indeed, a March 2013 survey of sovereign debt analysts reveals an increased risk of sovereign debt default over the previous year.
Another major concern is the country’s low level of technological readiness (98th). Although businesses adopt new technologies relatively promptly (47th), penetration rates of fixed and mobile Internet and telephony among the population remain among the lowest in developing Asia.
Furthermore, the situation has worsened in terms of labor market efficiency (99th), where the most salient problem remains the dismally low participation of women in the workforce. With a ratio women-to-men of 0.36 (137th), India has the lowest percentage of working women outside the Arab world.
