Why in the news ?

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at 30th position on a global manufacturing index.

More on news

• In the new ranking, India is five places below China, which is continuously striving to develop better avenues of manufacturing by boosting infrastructure, but above other BRICS peers, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
• Among BRICS nations, Russia is ranked 35th, Brazil 41st and South Africa at 45th place.
• India has been placed in the ‘Legacy’ group along with Hungary, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, among others. China figures among ‘leading countries’, while Brazil and South Africa are in ‘nascent’ ones.

• Japan topped the rankings on the back of developing the best structure of production in the Geneva-based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’
• India had a total manufacturing value of over $420 billion in 2016, the report said that the country’s manufacturing sector has grown by over 7 per cent per year on average in the past three decades and accounts for 16-20 per cent of India’s GDP.
• The WEF said, “Home to the second-largest population in the world and one of the fastest growing economies, the demand for Indian manufactured products is rising. India has room for improvement across the drivers of production, except for demand environment where is ranks in the top 5.”
• It also took note of the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative to make the country a global manufacturing hub and of “a significant push” to improve key enablers and move towards a more connected economy with announcement of a $59 billion investment in infrastructure in 2017.

Challenges

• ·WEF listed human capital and sustainable resources as the two key challenges for India and said the country needs to continue to raise the capabilities of its relatively young and fast-growing labour force.
• This entails upgrading education curricula, revamping vocational training programmes and improving digital skills, the WEF said, while adding that India should continue to diversify its energy sources and reduce emissions as its manufacturing sector continues to expand.

World Economic Forum

• The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
• The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
• It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.

Source

·Indian Express, Live Mint and weforum.org.