India tanks 5 spots on Global Connectedness Index

Global Connectedness is measured on the depth and breadth of countries’ integration with the rest of the world. Representational image of shipping containers. Image Source: Reuters

India has tanked 5 spots to reach 78th position out of 140 countries in Global Connectedness Index for the year 2015. The country ranked at 73rd position in the year 2013.

Global Connectedness is measured on the depth and breadth of countries’ integration with the rest of the world as manifested by their participation in international flows of products and services (trade), capital, information, and people (the four pillars of the DHL Global Connectedness Index).

In terms of depth dimension, India tanked 7 places from its previous ranking to 133 out of 140 countries, while in breadth dimensions it gained 2 places to 21.

“South & Central Asia lags across nearly all aspects of global connectedness,” the report said. While pointing out India’s lack of connectedness, the report added, “This region ranks last on depth and third from last on breadth. Furthermore, its relatively higher breadth than depth is a reflection of the poor levels of integration within the region, depressed in particular by the animosity between South Asia’s two largest economies, India and Pakistan.”

India’s depth and breadth measures suggests that the connectivity within the region has been very poor. Being one of the largest economies in South Asia, India has even added to the woes of the continent.

India’s merchandise exports in comparison to the rest of the world (except Netherlands) was a little of 2%; however, the country ranks among the ‘top export destinations’ for many countries like –Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Panama, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and UAE, among others.

India’s top 10 export destination include – USA (15%), UAE (11%), Hong Kong (5%) China (4%), UK (3%), Singapore (3%), Germany (3%), Saudi Arabia (3%), Bangladesh (2%) and Sri Lanka (2%).

This year's report also features two new city-level globalisation indexes. Mumbai ranks 13 out of 113 cities on the Globalization Hotspots index, which compares cities’ international flows to their internal activity (paralleling the depth dimension of the country-level DHL Global Connectedness Index).

The report showed India’s global connectedness rank in 2005 was 62 and in 2008, its ranking was the highest in all the years at 56th position.

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