Past Still Haunts India – Forbes Ranks India a Disappointing #97 On Best Countries for Business List 2015; Denmark Is #1
The bad economic policies propagated by previous regimes is still haunting India. Despite being hailed as World’s top FDI destination, beating US and China; despite improving drastically in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking; despite having the potential to become World’s 3rd largest economy by 2050, India is still way behind other countries when it comes to starting a new business.
In a wakeup call for our policy makers and politicians, Forbes has ranked us a dismal 97th out of 144 countries in their annual ‘Best Countries for Business List’.
We are ranked below countries like Mozambique (#96) which has a population of 25.3 million and per capita income of $1200 and Kyrgyzstan (#95), having population of 5.7 million and per capita income of $3300.
China is also ranked a disappointing #94. In fact, US, which is World’s financial capital and largest economy at $17.4 trillion is ranked #22 in this list, which is a downfall of 6 spots compared to last year. China is World’s 2nd largest economy with $10.4 trillion market.
Both of these countries have been mentioned to be plagued with bureaucracy, red tape and lack of monetary freedom which is required for conducting business. The same can be said for India as well, to some extent.
Capitalist’s Destination: Europe
The Old World (Europe) has made a strong comeback in 2015, by becoming the favorite destination for conducting business as among the top 25 countries in this list, 16 are from Europe.
Denmark is once again ranked #1 country for starting a business.
With a GDP of $341 billion, per capita income of $44,600 (which is Rs 30 lakh/yr; India has per capita income of Rs 3.8 lakh/yr) and unemployment rate of just 4.9%, Denmark is the new model country for others, displaying a unique socialist based utopia all over. Denmark has a population of 5.6 million.
New Zealand is #2 in this list, with a per capital income of $35,300; while Norway is at #3; Ireland is at #4; Sweden is #5 and Finland is #6.
Canada is surprised everyone with a ranking of #7.
In Asian countries, Singapore has beaten all, as its ranked #8 in this list. The Netherlands is ranked #9 and United Kingdom is at #10.
Among Asian countries in top 25, besides Singapore at #8, we have Hong Kong at #11, Taiwan at #21 and Japan at #23.
The worst 5 countries for doing business are: Myanmar at #140; Haiti at #141; Libya at #142; Guinea at #143 and Chad at #144.
You can check the full ranking here; and an interesting map-based interface to checkout all top 25 countries here.
