India reaches 44th rank in World Digital Competitiveness Rankings

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 the 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 the top-10 most digitally competitive economy include the 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) and in scientific concentration (21st to 9th)," the report 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, while Taiwan and China moved up to 13th and 22nd place, respectively.

"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. The Ranking, produced by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, measures the capacity and readiness of 63 nations to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society.

To evaluate an economy, WDCR examines three factors: Knowledge, the capacity to understand and learn the new technologies; technology, the competence to develop new digital innovations; and future-readiness, the preparedness for the coming developments.