Here is another report that may be called as an eye-opening report for finance minister P chadambaram. Some previous reports termed India emerging as one of the fastest growing economies in world and placed India at the top in the list of the most favorable destinations for investment purpose.
Now, the joint report by International consultancy and research firm AT Kearney and US-based magazine Foreign Policy has named India as the second least globalised country in its annual ranking of the world’s most globalised nations.
According to the report, AT Kearney has placed India at 71st position in the list of 72 globalised countries in the AT Kearney and Foreign Policy Globalisation Index 2007. Singapore is placed right at the top rank for the third consecutive year. The other countries are Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland in the list as top five globalised countries.
In 2006 report, India was placed at 61st position and in past one year the country fell 10 places to 71st position in 2007. However, India was placed at the second bottom position last year also in the list of 62 nations. The firm has added 10 countries in the list but all of them have come at ranks higher than India.
The research firm said that despite India’s services export and the total trade went up by more than a third, it was placed on 71st position in the list of 71 globalised countries.
The report says:
India’s standing as a premier offshoring destination with a booming economy often masks the fact that 70 per cent of its population lives in rural areas. Despite a doubling of Internet users in 2005, only 5% of India’s population had access to the Internet and more than half of its population was not attached to the power grid.
He research also noted that China, world’s fastest growing economy, also fell 15 places to 66th rank in this year index. Iran is the single country that has ranked behind India in the list.
According to the report, the Globalisation Index studies and assesses the extent to which countries are becoming more or less globally connected by surveying countries’ performance in four categories, economic integration, personal contact, technological connectivity and political engagement.
