India scored a poor 143 ranking on the United States based- The Heritage Foundation’s 2017 Index of Economic Ranking, which rates economic freedom, behind several of its neighbours including Pakistan.
The American think-tank said despite India maintaining its average annual growth rate of about 7% over the past five years, the administration has not done much to preserve economic freedom. The study classified India in the “mostly unfree” economies category, citing “uneven progress” on market-oriented reforms.
“A restrictive and burdensome regulatory environment discourages the entrepreneurship that could provide broader private-sector growth,” the report said. Corruption, underdeveloped infrastructure, and poor management of public finance were described as factors that “undermine overall development”.
Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand topped the index. India’s neighbours Nepal (125), Sri Lanka (112), Pakistan (141), Bhutan (107), and Bangladesh (128) were ranked higher than India.
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