India has jumped six positions to 37th rank on the annual World Competitiveness Index for the year 2022 on the back of better economic performance. The 63-nation list, which is compiled by the Switzerland-based Institute of Management Development (IMD), ranks Denmark on top, while Switzerland slipped from the top to the second position. Singapore has also regained the third spot in 2022 from fifth in 2021, the IMD's economic competitiveness ranking data shows.
"The Nordic nation takes the lead for the first time in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, which also highlights how inflationary pressures are causing pressing socio-environmental concerns to take a backseat," says the report.
India's ranking in the index has improved after no change for three years i.e. 2019, 2020 and 2021. During these years, India's competitive ranking stayed the same at 43. In 2018, it was 44, the data shows.
With the improvement in the ranking, India's economic performance has improved from 37th in 2021 to 28th position in 2022. The government efficiency improved from 46 in 2021 to 45 in 2022, while business efficiency saw a huge improvement from 32nd rank in 2021 to 23rd in 2022. Infrastructure, on the other hand, saw no change at 49.
Denmark reached the number one spot in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR) for the first time in the ranking’s 34-year history. “Denmark has played aggressively on the sustainability front and benefits from being a small country in the European market,” Prof. Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC), which creates the ranking, explains. “Operating within that framework has allowed it to announce aggressive reductions.”
The Danish government has set an ambitious target of cutting emissions by 70% in 10 years. The Scandinavian country’s trajectory in the World Competitiveness Ranking over the past five years has seen it move from 6th to 8th to 2nd to 3rd, then to 1st, respectively.
Denmark improved in international investment and performed robustly in government efficiency – particularly in its institutional framework (2nd), business legislation (3rd) and societal framework (2nd). It also performed outstandingly in business efficiency (1st), productivity and efficiency (1st) and management practices (1st).
IMD's 2022 World Competitiveness Ranking measured the economic competitiveness of 63 economies by analysing 163 pieces of hard data, taken from multiple sources and covering the 2021 period. It added its survey responses to this; the majority of answers were given in the first quarter of 2022 by senior executives. All data was then fed into four factors -- economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure, each with sub-factors.
"One major finding across economies is that inflationary pressures are having a greater impact on businesses – and therefore on the competitiveness of national economies – than concerns about greenhouse emissions and socio-economic disparities," the report reveals. “From an economic point of view, the pandemic seems to be over. The big worry is inflation, at least in Europe,” says Bris.
Elsewhere in the ranking, Switzerland came in 2nd (it was 1st in 2021), Singapore was 3rd (up from 5th) and Sweden fell two places to 4th. Croatia was this year’s greatest improver, leaping 18 places in economic performance. The WCC says its strong economic rebound from the most acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic played a key part, as did the recovery of its tourism sector. Both Russia and Ukraine were not assessed in this year’s edition due to the limited reliability of data collected.
