India Jumps 16 Places In WEF’s Global Competiveness List; Report Says India’s Future Better Than China
As per Global Competitiveness Report for 2015-16 by World Economic Forum (WEF), India has a brighter economic future, compared to China. This new claim has been made after India jumped an impressive 16 places in the global ranking, to stand at #55 this year.
World Economic Forum is a Swiss nonprofit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva.
Considering that India’s GDP growth grew by 7.5%, some experts are claiming that India can beat China by 2016-end. The report said, “From a macroeconomic perspective, India is positioned much more favourably for the future, even when compared to China,”
Comparably, China’s ranking was unchanged, as they stood at #28. Although the gap is lessening, but challenges still remain. For example, the report specifically mentioned that confidence among foreign investors is at an all time low, and Indian Govt. must take steps to improve that.
However, the massive improvement of 16 places in a year has impressed one and all. Philipp Rosler, Head of the Centre for Regional Strategies and Member of the Managing Board at the WEF, said, “Climbing a total of 16 places in one year to 55th worldwide, India’s performance is one of the strongest seen anywhere in the world”.
The recent push for Make in India, which attracted huge investments, campaign for Digital India and easing of corporate laws and rules have definitely helped India to improve its position. Both on macro and micro economic level, India has shown staggering improvement.
In another article, Viraj Mehta, head of India and South Asia for World Economic Forum, said, “There is now a consensus among analysts that there are only a few bright spots in the global economy, and India is one of them,”
.. But Only 4.5% of Indians Are Graduates!
Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India have recently shared census data for 2011 on literacy, workers and educational levels. The data says that only 4.5% of Indians are graduates. In fact,the educational situation is so grim, that 32.6% of Indians are not even educated upto primary school level.
Out of 55.5 million marginal workers who are seeking or doing a job in India, about 39.4% are illiterates. And among those who are literate, 37.6% are educated only till matric (class 10th)
Yes, India’s competitive advantage has improved, globally. But we need to ensure that our citizens are educated and empowered with knowledge, if we are aiming to beat China and other developed nations.
