India rises four spots, reaches 44th rank

NEW DELHI: India has advanced four places to 44th position in terms of digital competitiveness in the world as the country has made improvement in terms of knowledge and future readiness to adopt and explore digital technologies, according to a global report.

India rose from 48th place in 2018 to 44th rank this year as the country has improved overall in all factors -- knowledge, technology and future readiness -- as compared to the previous year’s ranking.

“India advanced four places to 44th position in 2019, with the biggest improvement in the technology sub-factor level, holding first position in telecommunications investment,” according to the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019 (WDCR).

The US was ranked as the world’s most digitally competitive economy, followed by Singapore in the second place. Sweden was ranked third on the list, followed by Denmark and Switzerland in the 4th and 5th place, respectively. Others in the list of top-10 most digitally competitive economy include Netherlands in the 6th place, Finland (7th), Hong Kong SAR (8th), Norway (9th) and Republic of Korea (10th).

The largest jump in the overall ranking was registered by China, moving from 30th to 22nd, and Indonesia, from 62nd to 56th. “In the case of China, the improvement originated mainly in the knowledge factor (18th) in which it progressed in the training and education sub-factor (from 46th to 37th)...,” it said.

Several Asian economies advanced significantly in the ranking compared to last year. Hong Kong SAR (8th) and the Republic of Korea (10th) entered the top-10 for the first time. “India and Indonesia jumped four and six positions, respectively, supported by positive results in talent, training and education as well as the enhancement of technological infrastructure,” said Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center.