PTI
New Delhi, May 21: The US may have a few economic lessons to learn from India, with the emerging economy being better rated than the world's largest economy in terms of their capabilities to tackle the raging financial turmoil.
India has been ranked at the 13th position among 57 countries by Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) for being better equipped to tide over the crisis and emerge more competitive in near term.
The rankings based on 'Stress Test' also takes into account the future scenario along with individual nations' readiness and resilience in a period of global recession.
Denmark has clocked the top position, followed by Singapore, Qatar, Norway and Hong Kong. The US is placed far below at the 28th spot.
Moreover, at the 13th place, India is ahead of neighbouring China (18th rank) and the world's second-largest economy, Japan (26).
"The Stress Test shows that smaller nations, which are export-oriented, resilient and with stable socio-political environments are better equipped to benefit immediately from the recovery," IMD World Competitiveness Center Director Professor Stephane Garelli said.
Going by the rankings, India is better placed than Brazil (22), the UK (34), Russia (51).
The 'Stress Test' took into account primarily four factors -- economy forecast, government, business, and society -- to rate how better each country can sail through crisis.
"Smaller economies are often more fit to adapt and rebound in difficult times... several of these nations have already undergone quite severe financial and real estate crises in the not so distant past and may have been more cautious in their policies," Garelli said.
However, India is way below the US, which is on top in terms of economic competitiveness rankings done by the IMD. India is at the 30th spot, slipping one notch from last year's 29th.
Among the 57 countries, in terms of economic competitiveness, US is followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden. China too is ahead of India ranking 20th, but has dropped from last year's 17th spot.
IMD has prepared the economic competitiveness rankings for 2009, World Competitiveness Yearbook, on the basis of four major factors -- economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
Among the other BRIC nations, Brazil and Russia are ranked 40th and 49th, respectively, whereas they were at the 43th and 47th places in 2008.
"Only the good performance of the very large exporters such as the US, Germany, China or Japan will send a credible message to the world that the worst is over -- a change that everybody will be able to believe in," Garelli noted.