The annual report of Global Economic Freedom Index has ranked India on the 105th position for this year, falling 26 spots from the last year’s ranking. In 2019, the country was ranked on the 79th position.
The new report was prepared by Canada’s Fraser Institute and highlighted the prospect of increasing economic freedom in India depends on the next generation of reforms in factor markets, including greater openness to international trade. The country reported a marginal drop in size of the government from 8.22 to 7.16, while legal system and property rights shifted from 5.17 to 5.06.
The freedom to trade went down from 6.08 to 5.71 internationally and regulation of credit, labour and business from 6.63 to 6.53. The report gave top spot to Hong Kong and second to Singapore on the data based on year 2018. India is 19 placed above China, which is ranked on 124th spot in the new report.
New Zealand, Switzerland, US, Australia, Mauritius, Georgia, Canada and Ireland are among the top 10 countries. By analysing policies and institutions of 162 countries and territories, the report intends to measure economic freedom, including levels of personal choice, ability to enter markets, security of private owned property, rule of law, etc.
Since the data is based on the year 2018, it may not reflect the current economic sentiment of most countries. However, it gives us an indication of where the trajectory is heading, to review the deficiencies and look for appropriate remedy for a better alignment of policies.
