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The annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum assesses the impact of Information and Communications Technology on the development and competitiveness of nations
India has improved its performance in an annual global ICT (information and communications technology) survey. But it ranks a low 39th out of 104 countries in 2004 for its use of ICT to further development.
While India improved on its 2003 ranking of 45 to 39 in the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) Networked Readiness Index for 2004, China also bettered its performance to 41, up 10 places from its 51st ranking in 2003. The latest edition of the survey says that the digital divide between developed and developing nations continues to narrow.
Now in its fourth edition, the report assesses the impact of ICT use on the development and competitiveness of nations. The study based its assessment on mathematics and science education, affordability and accessibility of telephone connections and government prioritisation for ICT.
The study's index is a composite measure of three main variables -- development of ICT, actual levels of networked readiness of individuals, businesses and governments, and actual levels of usage of ICTs by these three groups. "The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) has evolved into an accepted global benchmark of an economy's preparation to participate in and benefit from ICT developments," says Dutta, co-author of the report, along with WEF director Augusto Lopez-Claros.
The report consists of three main parts -- analytical studies related to aspects of ICT development, detailed country profiles and data tables with rankings for each country based on the variables.
Despite its ambition to emerge as a global leader in the IT software sector, India lags behind in the Infrastructure Environment Index in which it ranks 86th out of 104 countries. In the Environment Component Index, which measures the market environment, political and regulatory environment and infrastructure environment, India ranks 38th.
Similarly, India ranks 34th in what is called the Readiness Component Index, which measures individual readiness (44th), business readiness (36th) and government readiness (34th).
As regards the Usage Component Index -- which includes individual usage (85th), business usage (23rd) and government usage (23rd) -- India is rated 42nd in the World Economic Forum survey.
Meanwhile, the United States of America slipped from its prime position to come in fifth in the annual report's 2004-2005 edition, replaced at the top by Singapore, which ranked second last year. "Singapore is an excellent example of a country that has been able to make, in a relatively short period of time, enormous progress in putting ICT at the service of improved living standards," says Lopez-Claros.
"A comparison of the Networked Readiness Index scores over the last four years confirms last year's trend of a narrowing digital divide between most developed and least developed economies," the report says.
"Together with a handful of other economies -- Taiwan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Korea, Estonia, among others -- Singapore's experience highlights the increasingly central role played by technology, even beyond the borders of the rich industrial countries," says Lopez-Claros.
Other countries ranked in the top ten are Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan and Switzerland.
Besides India and China, other South Asian countries had mixed results -- while Pakistan improved its position from 76 to 63, Sri Lanka slipped from 66 to 71, while Bangladesh was virtually at the bottom of the ranking at 100, six notches below its previous year's rank of 93.
Source: Financial Express, March 11, 2005
Deccan Herald, March 10, 2005
Indo-Asian News Service, March 9, 2005
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