India has fallen by 10 places, to rank 68th out of 141 surveyed companies, in the global competitive index compiled by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. While several other economies climbed up on the list due to improvements in economic and business activities, India's ranking suggests a negative impact of the slowing economy in the country.
The report, which is now in its 40th year, shows that India is amongst the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil, which was ranked 71st this year.
The forum announced that India ranked higher in terms of macroeconomic stability and market size but the country's banking sector was deeply affected due to the high delinquency rate.
The report also shows that India is ranked 15th in terms of corporate governance and ranks second in the world for shareholder governance. India is ranked third in terms of market size and renewable energy.
India is also on par with several advanced economies with regard to innovation. "Talent adaptability is critical," said the forum.
"It pays to enable the workforce to contribute to the technology revolution and to be able to cope with its disruptions. As innovation capacity grows in emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil, they need to strengthen their skills and labour market to minimize the risks of negative social spillovers," it added.
The WEF also pointed out major shortcomings in some of the basic enablers of competitiveness. Weak ICT (information, communications and technology) adoption, poor health conditions and low life expectancy are some of the reasons why India ranked low in the index, said the forum.
India ranked 109 out of a total of 141 countries in terms of healthy life expectancy, which one of the shortest outside Africa and significantly below the South Asian average.
The WEF urged India to grow its skill base and free up the market in terms of trade activities. The report also highlighted that critically low participation of women at the workplace has severely affected India's ranking.
India's ratio of female workers to male workers of 0.26 has fetched it a rank of 128 while the country was positioned at 118th place in terms of meritocracy and incentivisation.
