AFTER over 20 years of economic reforms that included initiaitives to
globalize domestic economy, India has still to cover vast ground if its 66th
rank in the open markets index (OMI) 2011 is any indication.
Prepared by
International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICC), OMI ranks 75 countries on
four indicators. These are a) observed trade openness, b) trade policy, c)
openess to capital inflows and d) trade-enabling infrastructure. ICC released
this index recently and backed it up with a open letter to Heads of State of G20
countries.
Hong
Kong occupies the number one slot in OPI followed closely by Singapore.
Luxembourg has got the 3rd rank. The United States, one of the most outspoken
champions of openness, find itself in the middle at 39th slot.
As put by
OMI report, "The purpose of the ICC Open Markets Index (OMI) is to generate a
balanced and reliable measurement of a country’s openness to trade. It uniquely
combines indicators of actual, de facto, openness of markets with those
reflecting government measures considered barriers to market entry."
OPI
has divided 75 countries into five categories – 1) Most open, excellent (score
of 5-6), 2) Above average openness (Score 4-4.99), 3) Average openness (Score
3-3.99), 4) Below average openness (Score 2-2.99) and 5) Very weak (Score
1-1.99).
India’s position at 66th rank is nine ranks below that of China and two
ranks above Brazil. In all four basic components India’s scores are relatively
weak (ranging from 2.2 to 2.6). India’s scores are better than those of China
only in FDI openness. In comparison to Brazil the Indian scores are higher for
FDI and trade openness, says OMI.
India figures in the 22 countries that
OPI considers as to have "below average openness." Apart from India, this
category includes five other G20 countries — China, Mexico, Russia, Argentina
and Brazil. "Mexico’s average score is identical to that of China. In trade
policy and FDI openness the scores of Mexico are superior to those of China
while the opposite is the case for trade openness and infrastructure.
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