India, 62nd, below China, Pak in ‘ inclusive growth’

◗ Other neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh & Lanka also doing far better in ranking than India

Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi showcases India before the global investors’ community at Davos, Switzerland, the nation was ranked at 62nd place among the emerging economies on an Inclusive Development Index, a World Economic Forum ( WEF) report said. India ranks much below China’s 26th position and even Pakistan’s 47th.

India had been ranked 60th among 79 developing economies last year.

Norway remains the world’s most inclusive advanced economy, while Lithuania again tops the list of emerging economies, the World Economic Forum said while releasing the annual index.

Mr Modi, who is the first Indian Prime Minister in over 20 years to attend the WEF annual event, will meet over 120 CEOs of top multinational corporations at Davos. The PM will deliver the keynote speech at the WEF’s plenary session on Tuesday.

Of the three pillars that make up the index, India ranks 72nd for inclusion, 66th for growth and development and 44th for intergenerational equity. The neighbouring countries ranked above India include Sri Lanka ( 40), Bangladesh ( 34) and Nepal ( 22). The countries

ranked better than India also include Mali, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ghana, Ukraine, Serbia, Philippines, Indonesia, Iran, Macedonia, Mexico, Thailand and Malaysia.

Although China ranks first among emerging economies in GDP per capita growth ( 6.8 per cent) and labour productivity growth ( 6.7 per cent) since 2012, its overall score is brought down by lacklustre performance on inclusion, the WEF said.

The index takes into account the “living standards, environmental sustainability and protection of future generations from further indebtedness”, the WEF said. It urged the leaders to urgently move to a new model of inclusive growth and development, saying reliance on GDP as a measure of economic achievement is fuelling shorttermism and inequality.

The 2018 index, which measures progress of 103 economies on three individual pillars — growth and development; inclusion; and inter- generational equity — has been divided into two parts. The first part covers 29 advanced economies and the second 74 emerging economies.

The index has also classified the countries into five sub- categories in terms of the fiveyear trend of their overall Inclusive Development Growth score — receding, slowly receding, stable, slowly advancing and advancing.

Despite its low overall score, India is among the 10 emerging economies with “advancing” trend. Only two advanced economies have shown such an “advancing” trend.

Excessive reliance by economists and policymakers on Gross Domestic Product as the primary metric of national economic performance is part of the problem, the WEF said. The GDP measures current production of goods and services rather than the extent to which it contributes to broad socio- economic progress as manifested in median household income, employment opportunity, economic security and quality of life, it added. The WEF also said that rich and poor countries alike are struggling to protect future generations, as it cautioned political and business leaders against expecting higher growth to be a panacea for social frustrations, including those of younger generations who have shaken the politics of many countries in recent years.