IMPORTANT INDEXES AND REPORTS

Ease of Doing Business Index

·         It is being released as part of the World Bank every year.

·         It was introduced in 2004 and this year with the theme ―Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs.

·        The ranking of country is based on index averages the country‘s percentile rankings on 10 indicators each having equal weightage. 

 The indicators are –

1. Ease of starting business

2. Getting electricity

3. Dealing with construction permits

4. Registering property

5. Protecting investors

6. Access to credit

7. Employing workers

8. Trading across borders

9. Paying taxes

10. Enforcing contracts &

11. Resolving insolvency

Logistics Performance Index

·  It is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. 

·  It is released by World Bank.

·  It is the weighted average of the country scores on the following six key dimensions -

1. Efficiency of the clearance process by border control agencies, including Customs

2. Quality of trade and transport related infrastructure e.g. ports, railroads, roads,information technology 

3. Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments

4. Competence and quality of logistics services e.g., transport operators, customs brokers

5. Ability to track and trace consignments

6. Timeliness of shipments in reaching destination

Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness

• ·    It is launched by World Bank in the study report ―India‘s State Level Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness‖.
• ·        The index takes in to account the states endeavour to bring sector specific energy efficiency.
• ·        The index benchmarks the readiness of Indian States for energy efficiency implementation.
• ·        Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala are the top 5 states in terms of overall Energy  Efficiency Implementation Readiness.

Global Financial Development Report 

• ·        World Bank has released its annual ―Global Financial Development Report 2017/18: Bankers without Borders‖.
• ·        Global Financial Development Report 2017/2018 is the fourth in a World Bank series.
• ·        The report tracks financial systems in more than 200 economies before and during the global financial crisis
• ·        The report‘s findings and policy recommendations are relevant for policy makers, staff of central banks, ministries of finance, and financial regulation agencies

Energy transition Index

• ·         The Index is released by World Economic Forum.
• ·         The report titled "Fostering Effective Energy Transition", ranks countries on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.
• ·        The overall list was topped by Sweden, followed by Norway at the 2nd position and Switzerland at the 3rd rank.
• ·         India has been ranked at 78^th among 114 countries on the Energy Transition Index.
• ·         India is ranked lower than its emerging market peers like Brazil and China.
• ·        However the report stated that India has taken "bold measures" to improve energy access, energy efficiency, and to improve the deployment of renewable sources of energy

Environmental Performance Index, 2018

·  EPI is a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum.

·  The report ranks 180 countries on 24 performance indicators.

·  It is spread across 10 categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

·  Switzerland leads the world in sustainability, followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden in the recent EPI.

·  India ranks 177 among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index 2018.

·  India is among the bottom 5 countries on the index, at 177th place.

Global Gender Gap Index

·  It is published by World Economic Forum.

·  It measures progress towards parity between men and women in – 

1. Economy

2. Education

3. Health &

4. Political representation.

·  The index lies between 0 and 1, with 1 denoting complete parity and 0, complete inequality.

·  The country rankings allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups.

Inclusive Development Index (IDI)

·  The index is computed by WEF to provide a more complete measure of economic development than GDP growth alone.

·  The index has 3 pillars – 

1. Growth and Development

2. Inclusion and Intergenerational Equity &

3. Sustainability.

·  The parameters focus on the living standards of people and future-proofing of economies by the WEF.

·  The scores are based on the scale of 1-7 and it is computed separately for developed and developing countries and is not comparable.

·  In the recent index, Norway tops the chart followed by Iceland and Luxemburg in advanced economies.

·  India performs best (44th) in terms of Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability. This is primarily a result of low dependency ratio, with higher young population.

Global Human Capital Index, 2017 

·  It is published by WEF.

·  It ranks countries on how well they are developing their human capital.

·  The rankings are based on four thematic dimensions — capacity, deployment, development, and know-how.

·  It takes a life-course approach to human capital, evaluating the levels of education, skills and employment available to people in five distinct age groups, starting from under 15 years to over 65 years.

·  The index is led by Scandinavian nations Norway, Finland and Switzerland, followed by large economies such as the US and Germany.

World Power language Index

·  It is released by WEF.

·  It measures the usefulness of a language to a representative human being and is not meant to apply to any particular person with their own set of conditions, preferences and geography.

·  The Power Language Index (PLI) uses 20 indicators to measure the influence on language.

·  Neither is the index a measure of the beauty/merit of a language or its associated cultures.

·  It measures the usefulness of a language to a representative human being.

·  English has been ranked first in the top 10 most powerful languages in 2016.

·  It is the dominant language of three G7 nations (USA, UK and Canada).

·  The list is followed by Mandarin, French and Spanish.

·  Hindi has been ranked 10th in the 2016 PLI.

Global Enabling trade Report

·  It is published by WEF and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation.

·  It features the Enabling Trade Index, which evaluates economies based on their capacity to facilitate the flow

of goods over borders and to their destination.

·  The Index measures the factors, policies and services that facilitate the trade in goods across borders and to destination. It is made up of four sub-indexes –

1. Market access

2. Border administration

3. Transport and communications infrastructure

4. Business environment

·  India ranks 102^nd out of 136 countries.

Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report

·  It is prepared by WEF.

·  The index ranked on their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy.

·  It highlights key trends in the energy transition moving towards more sustainable, affordable and secure energy systems around the world, as well as the challenges countries continue to face, individually and as cohorts.

·  It has 18 indicators defined across the three sides of the 'energy triangle' i.e., economic growth and development, environmental sustainability, and energy access and security.

·  Top 3 Countries are Switzerland, Norway and Sweden.

Global Manufacturing Index

·  It is published by WEF.

·  It groups countries in to 4 categories such as,

i. Leading - strong current base, high level of readiness for future

ii. High Potential - limited current base, high potential for future

iii. Legacy - strong current base, at risk for future

iv. Nascent - limited current base, low level of readiness for future

·  In its recent report, Japan is ranked first in the index.

·  India is placed in 30th position.

·  India has been placed in the 'Legacy' group along with Hungary, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, among others.

Global Risk Report 2017

·        It is an annual study published by the WEF ahead of its annual meeting.

·        Based on the work of the Global Risk Network, the report describes changes occurring in the global risks landscape from year to year and identifies global catastrophic risks.

·        It considers risks that are global in their nature and its impact.



 The criteria for what constitutes a global risk -

1. Global scope - A risk should have the potential to affect at least three world regions in at least two different continents.

2. Cross-industry relevance - The risk has to affect three or more industries.

3. Uncertainty - There should be uncertainty about how the risk manifests itself within ten years combined with uncertainty about the magnitude of its impact.

4. Economic impact - The risk should have the potential to cause economic damage of at 10 billion US$ or more.

World Economic outlook

·  It is a survey conducted and published by the International Monetary Fund.

·  It is published biannually and partly updated two times a year.

·  It ranks over 200 countries in terms of per capita GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

·  In this year ranking, India has moved up one position to 126 in terms of GDP per capita.

·  ·  Qatar remains the world‘s richest as per the IMF data.

·  PPP – It is the rate at which the currency of one country needs to be converted into that of a second country.

·  It is used worldwide to compare the income levels in different countries.

·  It is to ensure that the expenditure on a similar commodity must be same in both currencies when accounted for exchange rate.

Global Competitiveness Index

·  It is prepared by World Economic Forum (WEF)

·  It is made up of over 110 variables, which are organized into twelve pillars, with each pillar representing an area considered as an important determinant of competitiveness.

·  12 Pillars are –  

1. Institutions

2. Appropriate Infrastructure

3. A Stable Macroeconomic Framework

4. Good Health and Primary Education

5. Higher education and training

6. Efficient Goods Markets

7. Efficient Labour Markets

8. Developed Financial Markets

9. Ability to harness the benefits of existing technologies

10. Market Size - Both Domestic and International

11. Producing new and different goods using the most sophisticated production processes &

12. Innovation.

·  Switzerland emerged on top followed by the US and Singapore.

World Economic outlook

·  It is a survey conducted and published by the International Monetary Fund.

·  It is published biannually and partly updated two times a year.

·  It ranks over 200 countries in terms of per capita GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

·  Qatar remains the world‘s richest as per the IMF data.

·  PPP – It is the rate at which the currency of one country needs to be converted into that of a second country.

·  It is used worldwide to compare the income levels in different countries.

·  It is to ensure that the expenditure on a similar commodity must be same in both currencies when accounted for exchange rate.

Trade and Development Report 2018 7

• Released by - United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

• The report indicated that the current global economic growth is "spasmodic" and many economies are operating below potential.

Global Financial  Stability Report titled “A decade after the Global Financial Crisis: Are we safer?”

• Released by International Monetary Fund. It also publishes -World Economic Outlook

• It observes that a decade after financial crisis the banking system has become stronger but some risks have also intensified such as escalation of trade tensions, greater pressure on emerging market economies etc.

Global Competitive Index 4.0

• Released by World Economic Forum.

It also publishes –

Ø Global Risks Report

Ø Global Gender Gap Report

• The index is a composite indicator that assesses a set of factors that determine an

economy's level of productivity.

• In the index, U.S. topped the position, followed by Singapore and Germany.

• Among the BRICS economies, China topped the list at 28^th place, ahead of India (58^th)

Multidimensional Poverty Index 2018

• It is released by- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

• It measures multiple deprivations in the same households in education, health and living standards on the basis of 10 indicators. A person is identified as multi-dimensionally poor (or ‘MPI poor’) if deprived in at least one third of the dimensions.

• The global MPI was developed by OPHI with the UNDP for inclusion in UNDP’s flagship Human Development Report (HDR) in 2010. It has been published in the HDR ever since. 

• Though incidence of multidimensional poverty has almost halved, India has the largest number of people living in multidimensional poverty in the world.

Human Development Index

• Released by United Nations Development Programme. The HDI is calculated using the following indicators:

Ø Health - Life expectancy at birth.

Ø Education - expected years schooling for school-age children and average years of schooling in the adult population.

Ø Income - measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP US$)

Between 1990 and 2017, India's HDI value increased from 0.427 to 0.640, putting the country in the medium human development category. India climbed one spot to 130 out of 189 countries.

• India’s life expectancy increased from 57.9 (1990) to 68.8 (2017).

• India’s per capita income in PPP terms saw an increase of a 267% from $1,733 to $6,353 between 1990 and 2017.

• Expected years of schooling went up from 7.6 years (1990) to 12.3 years (2017).

• Development hasn’t been spread evenly, with India’s income inequality the highest at 18.8%. In fact, when corrected for inequality India’s HDI value falls by 26.8% to 0.468.

'Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle’

• Released by World Bank.

• The percentage of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day) dropped from 36% to 10% between 1990 and 2015.

• Shared Prosperity is defined as the growth in average income or consumption of poorest 40% of the population. It is examined by country rather than globally.

Human Capital Index

• Recently, first Human Capital Index (HCI) was released by World Bank. HCI is part of the World Development Report (WDR).

• It measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18. It conveys the productivity of the next generation of workers compared to a benchmark of complete education and full health.

• Other important reports released by WB are:

o Global Economic Prospect (GEP) report

o Global Investment Competitiveness report

Regulatory Indicators For Sustainable Energy (RISE) 2018

• Released by World Bank Group

• It is the 2nd edition (1st edition in 2016).

• It is a global inventory of policies and regulations that support the achievement of SDG7 (electricity access, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean cooking).

• RISE indicators have equal weight for three areas: universal access, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.

Ease of Doing Business Rankings for States

• Released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (Ministry of Commerce and Industry)

• In 3rd edition of annual ranking of all states and UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) conducted by DIPP and World Bank, Andhra Pradesh stood to be the best in India to do business. It was followed by Telangana, Haryana, Jharkhand & Gujarat, while Meghalaya stood last at 36th position. 

• The ranking was introduced with the aim of triggering competition among states to attract investments and improve business climate.

About BRAP

• The aim of this exercise is to improve delivery of various Central Government regulatory  functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.

• States and UTs have conducted reforms to ease their regulations and systems in areas  such as labour, environmental clearances, single window system, construction permits, contract enforcement, registering property and inspections.

Ease of Living Index

• Released by Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs

• Ease of Living framework comprised four pillars namely Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical which are further broken down into 78 indicators across 15

• The top positions in each of the sub-indices are occupied by the top 5 cities in the overall rankings: Navi Mumbai scores the highest in the Institutional sub-index, Tirupati in Socialsub-index, Chandigarh in Economic index and Greater Mumbai in Physical sub -index.Overall, Pune is the best city to live in India.

• Andhra Pradesh has topped the chart in the 'Ease of Living Index' rankings among theStates.

States’ Start-Up Ranking 2018

• Released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

• Gujarat ranked the best performer and Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, And Rajasthan are the top performers.

• Government had launched this initiative in 2016 with the objective of encouraging States and Union Territories to take proactive steps towards strengthening the Start-up ecosystems in their states.

Government EPayments Adoption Ranking

• Released by The Economist Intelligence Unit

• India's overall ranking on the government's adoption of e-payments has moved up to 28th in 2018, from 36th in 2011

• GEAR is a global Index to check how governments around the world are adopting digital payments.

World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019:

·        United Nations’ flagship publication on expected trends in the global economy

·        UN agencies involved in publication are: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the five UN regional commissions.

Global talent competitiveness index:

• ·        Ranked India at 80th position (out of 125)
• ·        Launched for the first time in 2013 the annual report is published by INSEAD in partnership with the Adecco Group and Tata Communications.
• ·        It measures how countries and cities grow, attract and retain talent, providing a
• ·        unique resource for decision makers to understand the global talent competitiveness picture and develop strategies for boosting their competitiveness

Work for a brighter future:

Released by International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Global

Commission on Future of Work.

 The Global Commission was set up under Future of Work Initiative of ILO.

Future of Work Initiative:

 It was launched by ILO in 2015 in order to understand and to respond effectively to the new challenges posed by the changes that the world of work is undergoing. 

 State of World Fisheries Report-

·        Released, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

·        The biannual report presents FAO’s official world fishery and aquaculture statistics.