India slips to 60th in WEF’s global competitiveness ranking

India has slipped to the 60th position in the global competitiveness ranking, down 31 places from its emerging market peer China, while Switzerland has retained its top rank for the fifth successive year.

The annual Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) tends to place highly innovative countries with strong institutions at the top ranks.

World's largest economy, the United States has reversed its four-year downward and is now placed at the 5th position while Japan occupies the ninth position.

Singapore and Finland have retained their second and third positions, respectively, while Germany has moved up two places to the fourth.

Hong Kong SAR with the seventh rand also features in the top ten among rankings of 148 economies.

India, the report said, continues to be "penalised" for its very disappointing performance in infrastructure, the basic drivers underpinning competitiveness, the very ones that matter the most, WEF said.

"The country's supply of transport, information and communications Technology (ICTs), and energy infrastructure remains largely insufficient and ill-adapted to the needs of the economy," it said.

"Notwithstanding improvements across the board over the past few years, very poor public health and education levels remain a prime cause of India's low productivity," the report noted.

Among the major emerging economies, China is on top at 29th, ahead of South Africa (53rd), Brazil (56th), India (60th) and Russia (64th).

Malaysia has emerged as the most competitive economy among developing countries, ranking 24th, five notches above China.

Indonesia jumped 12 places to 38th, making it the most improved G20 economy since 2006

The gap between China and India has widened from just eight places in 2006 to 31 today.

Asia is also home to some of the world's least competitive economies, including Bangladesh (110th), Nepal (117th) and Pakistan (133rd), which drops for the third year in a row.

Bhutan (109th), Lao PDR (81st) and Myanmar (139th) join the index for the first time.

Among European economies, Sweden (6th), the Netherlands (8th) and the United Kingdom (10th) have fallen.

"Innovation becomes even more critical in terms of an economy's ability to foster future prosperity," World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.

''The traditional distinction between countries being 'developed' or 'less developed' will gradually disappear and we will instead refer to them much more in terms of being 'innovation rich' vs. 'innovation poor' countries."