Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: Coupled with rapid economic growth, these reforms are raising the country's profile as an economic powerhouse.
India’s economy is one of the fastest-growing in the world, logging 7 percent average annual growth over the past five years. During the first half of 2018-19, its GDP grew by 7.6 percent, and is expected to reach $6 trillion by fiscal year 2027, riding a wave to upper-middle-income status buoyed by digitization, globalization, favorable demographics and reforms.
India is expected to become the world’s third-largest consumer economy, with consumption expected to triple to $4 trillion by 2025, owing to shifts in consumer behavior and expenditure patterns, according to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report. Meanwhile, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers states that the country will surpass the U.S. to become the world’s second-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) by the year 2040. It is currently the third-largest economy in terms of PPP.
India has carried out several key reforms in the last few years to improve its Ease of Doing Business rankingm and jumped 23 places in 2018 to rank 77th, up from No. 100 in 2017. In the “Distance to Frontier” ranking, the country raised its score to 67.23 in 2018 from 60.76 in 2017. Most remarkable improvements were registered in the indicators related to construction permits and trading across borders. In granting of construction permits, India’s rank improved from 181 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, after the country reduced the time required to obtain a building permit by establishing strict time limits for pre-construction approvals.
In trading across borders, India’s ranking improved from 146 in 2017 to 80 in 2018. The Starting a Business ranking improved from 156 to 137, and Getting Credit from 29 to 22. Aside from these improvements in Ease of Doing Business rankings, the country is ranked one of the 10 most valuable nation-brands in the world. While it slipped one point to be ranked ninth in 2018, its brand value rose by 5% from $2.05 trillion in 2017 to $2.16 trillion in 2018.
In 2018, India ranked 11th in the Global FDI Confidence Index. It is the second-highest-ranked emerging market for foreign direct investment (FDI). In the fiscal year 2019, FDI inflows to India stood at $33.49 billion, while the cumulative FDI equity inflows to the country from April 2000 to December 2018 reached $409.15 billion.
India has created a favorable business environment capable of attracting more international companies to invest and do business in the country.