Top 10 predictions for Indian IT in 2006

India will be the fastest growing IT market in the Asia Pacific region with its domestic IT market set to grow at an estimated 19% in 2006 over 2005, according to IT and telecom consulting major IDC.

"Year 2006 will be governed by the underlying themes of mobility, convergence and infrastructure management," said Kapil Dev Singh, country manager, IDC (India) Ltd. Dynamic IT in the enterprise space and increasing proliferation of digital devices in the consumer space, will drive the growth of IT market in 2006.

IDC's top 10 predictions for the Indian IT market for 2006 are:

1. India to continue to be the fastest growing domestic IT market in the Asia-Pacific region, to continue to grow at 19% in 2006, with the other Asian giant China growing at 12%.

Country	Domestic IT market growth in 2006 over 2005
India	19%
Philippines	14%
China	12%
Malaysia	8%
Thailand	6%
Source: IDC, 2006

The major growth will come in the following areas:

Hardware: WLAN equipment (94%), digicams (70%), IP phones (50%), IP-PBX systems (43%), Smart handheld devices or SHDs (30%), Inkjet MFDs (21%), and Notebook PCs (20%)

Software: Application life cycle management software (32%), security software (29%), content applications (24%), BI software (24%), system management software (20%), network management software (20%), information and data management software (20%)

IT Services: Application management (32%), software deployment and support services (29%), network consulting and integration services (24%), IS outsourcing (23%).

2. Servers, the fundamental building blocks of IT infrastructure to cross 100,000 shipments in 2006 in India.

The challenge facing CIOs in 2006 would be to deliver higher IT service-level performance to meet diverse business needs while lowering the costs of infrastructure - a tough balance to strike.

Users have realised their IT infrastructure has become quite complex over a period of time as they continued to add different types of servers, storage, and software.

Servers are among the fundamental building blocks of a solid infrastructure in the making. The trend towards dynamic IT will necessitate an increasing need for server consolidation in 2006. After struggling for years to register consistent growth, the server market in India is now poised for strong gains over the next five years.

For the past 10 consecutive quarters, server shipments in India increased year-on-year in excess of 20% until 3Q05, while growth in spending was equally impressive.

3. Outsourcing services to outgrow technology product services (standalone) in 2006 and will contribute largest chunk (24%) to the Indian IT services market.

IDC believes that the Indian market is moving towards an era of outsourcing services in the domestic space. So far, the domestic market has been dominated by plain vanilla support services like software and hardware deployment and support, which includes revenue streams like AMC (annual maintenance service contract) revenues.

With the emergence of end-to-end operators in the services space and with more confidence on outsourcing service providers, end-users are awarding more contracts with long-term perspectives in mind.

Deals like IBM-Bharti, HP-Bank of India, Wipro-Sanmar group, TCS-Department of Company Affairs, etc show a definite change in the mindset of even the PSU/Government vertical to go for similar deals, where the complete headache of IT Infrastructure can be taken up by the specialist providers.

IDC estimates that managed services (outsourcing services) would be 24% of the total domestic IT services market vis-à-vis 22% for technology product services (TPS) in CY 2006.

4. Anytime, anywhere information availability to drive shift towards policy-based security management and administration in India.

Businesses are rapidly changing with growth and competition, pushing enterprises for high availability of information to enable better and faster decision-making. Enterprises are networking with both their downstream and upstream partners in the ecosystem so as to streamline and optimise their value chain. The need for higher availability coupled with compliance to regulations will put Identity & Access Management (IAM) solutions in the mainstream in 2006.

Higher mobility and faster decision-making require information to be made available anywhere, anytime. This, in turn would enable enterprises to respond to changing market needs in a shorter time-span.

Therefore, enterprises will need to design a centralised security policy, which takes into consideration the needs of employees and partners alike. This trend will increasingly set the boundaries that govern security management and administration policies in enterprises.

5. 2006, the year of the digital home revolution in India: 100% growth expected in digital camera shipments and home Internet connections.

Finally the Indian consumer segment is coming into its own. IDC has observed phenomenal growth in the adoption of digital devices and technologies that clearly signals the trend towards fructification of the concept of a digital home.

All major indicators, i.e. home PC, broadband, digital camera, high-end television, satellite radios, MP3 players etc., have shown very healthy growth in the year 2005. IDC predicts that the next year is going to be even rosier for a host of digital products aimed for this mass market.

India will see a few products enjoying more than 100% growth with digital cameras and consumer broadband connections becoming the flag bearers of this triumphant march.

The digital camera market is undergoing a sea change in the country. Indian consumers are maturing from 'casual clickers' to 'serious buyers', with increased attention towards higher pixels, zoom and other high-end features.

Low cost Broadband is another market where India is going to see unprecedented growth. The cost of owing a broadband Internet connection (primarily ADSL) has come down drastically, thanks to the bundling and offerings available from service providers.

6. Unrestricted IP telephony will boost IP-PBX shipments to over 25% of PBX line shipments by end-2006, but low PSTN tariffs will constrain VoIP usage in India.

The Indian IP telephony enterprise equipment market is finally emerging out of the shackles of government-enforced restrictions. The recent announcement further opening up IP telephony means that IP telephones and equipment will be able to freely interconnect with normal TDM lines, be it for calling within the user's closed group or outside, irrespective of whether the called party is outside India or inside India.

And it does not matter whether the receiver is on an IP phone or a normal PSTN phone or even the now more common mobile phone. IP telephony, unbridled and with full features, is what 2006 will see becoming a reality.

Given the fast dropping costs of IP phones and IP-PBX equipment, IP telephony will stop being a tool used for niche applications by early adopters to become a multipurpose communication medium used by a diverse set of enterprises.

In 2006, it will not only be the call centres and software houses who will adopt IP telephony -- many other organisations such as banks, manufacturers, educational institutions and government departments would begin adding IP telephones and IP-PBXs to their networks.

IDC expects that by the end of 2006, a quarter of PBX lines shipped will be IP lines compared to the 15 per cent today. The biggest drivers for IP telephony among enterprises would be investment protection and convergence -- businesses would look at investing on the latest technology that will give them the best return in the long run.

7. Industry-specific solutions to be major driver of corporate IT spending in 2006 and beyond.

As the Indian economy integrates and aligns more and more with the global economy, industry segments facing the heat of competition are gearing up to compete internationally. This is visible across segments as diverse as automotive, banking & insurance, consumer durables, textiles & garments, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals & biotechnology, retailing, telecom, et al.

This unprecedented scenario has made Indian companies scout for world-class enterprise applications/solutions from IT vendors to help them upgrade their legacy systems/applications in order to meet their goals as well as the expectations of their customers, business partners and shareholders.

IDC believes that this trend is going to gain traction in 2006. This in turn is forcing IT vendors/solution providers in India to realign their internal organisation structures as well as their go-to-market strategies in order to be able to adequately address these new market realities.

According to IDC IT vendors/solution providers will be:

• Re-orienting their internal organisation structures to cater to the specific and emerging needs of their industry vertical focused customers, as against the traditional horizontal, product category-oriented structures.
• Developing and providing specific, easily customizable and cost-effective (high RoI/low TCO) solutions to their customers.
• Tying up with industry-specific solution partners who possess deep domain expertise and have access/proximity to local geographical industry clusters.

High revenue growth would be witnessed in vertical-specific applications across-the-board, which is expected to provide a positive boost to revenues (2006 over 2005) in such major product segments as servers (9%), PCs (21%), enterprise storage solutions (13%), packaged software (20%) and key IT services like application management (32%), ASP (20%), IT consulting (20%), network consulting & integration (24%), network management (26%), software deployment & support (29%) as well as enterprise-wide IS outsourcing services (23%).

8. Application integration, consolidation with business analytics will gain momentum in 2006.

Enterprises in India are growing rapidly and the need has arisen to have better control on growth and decision-making based on real time enterprise wide data. The business drivers across industries are different and range from compliance, better service to cost control.

Enterprises have deployed multiple applications with a mix of standardised packaged and custom-developed legacy applications. These disparate applications pose challenges like:

2006 will witness enterprises integrating multiple applications running within the organisation. They will also reduce the number of applications wherever possible and rollout applications from a single location, thus reducing the number of servers deployed.

9. Cost no more the key factor in colour adoption: Colour laser shipments growing by 50% in 2006 over 2005.

IDC believes that adoption of colour printing in the laser space will take off from 2006. While 2006 will witness an increased adoption of colour lasers in offices; the installed base will keep on increasing thereafter. Over the past two years there has been a concerted drive by the industry to develop and enhance the range of colour laser devices that they offer.

This drive will begin to see results from 2006 onwards. The CAGR for the next five years is predicted to be about 40%, while 2006 is likely to witness an increase of about 50% over 2005 shipments.

There are an increasing number of devices that employ technologies that deliver colour output to businesses, and there is an increasing awareness amongst organizations that colour can bring great benefits to their businesses.

The factors that will drive the adoption of colour printing are:

• Prices to drop considerably across all products;
• Businesses have a latent need for colour printing and would really begin to look strategically at what benefits colour could provide;
• Vendors would continue to introduce products that will offer better print speeds, quality and consistency of print, which would enable a number of businesses to print many of their colour documents in-house.

To begin with, marketing and sales would drive the use of colour in offices. The phenomenon is likely to spread to other groups gradually. However there are a few challenges that both the printer vendors and offices (end-user organisations) themselves have to overcome. These are:

• Increased costs -- one time cost as well as recurring costs;
• Cost allocation between various departments; and
• Colour printing through networked devices.

IDC expects a few organisations to act as innovators towards adopting colour printing cost effectively, thereby overcoming the above hurdles successfully. These organisations will gain an early advantage over their competitors and this would then lead to widespread adoption of colour in Indian offices.

10. Worldwide IT and business services: Focus on SMEs, global assets, global sourcing for innovation, and industry focused BPO.

In 2006, IT and business services vendors will continue to see major market changes, including a dramatic shift to more business process outsourcing, an increase in the number of players, and a reduction in total deal value.

These developments reflect increased competition and expansion in the marketplace and are continuing to put pressure on traditional outsourcers to alter their business models in order to successfully compete in the coming years - to include newer service capabilities, involve different ecosystems of partnerships, target 'non-IT' opportunities, and seek new customers in the SME and consumer spaces as well as emerging markets.

India better than best in industrial growth race

Despite a slight slowdown, India boosts one of the fastest growing industrial production rates in the world. While the latest release from the ministry of statistics has shown industrial production growth to have dipped a tad to 6.9% in November, this level is still higher than most of the major economies like US, UK, Eurozone, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia and Russia.

In fact, in the April-November FY06 period, industrial production has recorded an 8.3% growth. Among the countries being compared, only China and Argentina seem to have recorded faster industrial production growth rates of 16.6%, and 9.6% respectively.

On the global sphere, the US’ industrial production grew only by 2.8%, with the consumer goods and business equipment sectors recording declines in the recent period. In fact, economies like the UK, Eurozone, as an aggregate, and Indonesia, saw declines of 2.4%, 0.8%, and 3.4% respectively in their overall industrial production.

Poor performance by the mining and the electricity sectors, coupled with a general slowdown in exports, seem to be some of the major causes for the slowdown in industrial production rates in India.The mining sector seems to be the biggest drag.

The past five months have seen the sector record successive declines; in the month of November alone the sector has recorded a decline of 1.4%. The electricity sector is also proving to be a major drag on industrial production. Although the growth in the sector has picked up in recent months, it is still much lower than the previous financial year.

Perhaps a fall in exports has played a key role in curtailing industrial production growth rates in the economy, as overall production in the industrial sector caters to both domestic and global demand.Global demand is represented by exports or growth in Indian exports.

Subsequently, a fall in exports or export orders could have a negative impact on overall industrial production growth in the economy. In November ’05, exports saw close to a 12% decline compared to November ’04. This drop in exports could also have played a key role in denting industrial production.

A correlation of 0.86 between the variables is a further proof of the strong relationship between industrial production and exports. It is also important to note that the exports sector does not dominate industrial production growth in the Indian economy, as the Indian economy is more about consumer demand, with consumption contributing nearly 70% to GDP and exports contributing only 15% to India’s GDP.

The manufacturing sector is proving to be the strongest driving force towards industrial production growth in the Indian economy. The sector has recorded a 8.1% increase in the month of November ‘05. Other performing sectors are the consumer goods sector and the capital goods sector, both recording double-digit growth figures.

Goa among top 10 holiday destinations

London, Jan 11: Goa with its sun, sand and sylvan surroundings is one of the world's top 10 "must see" places for 2006 in a list compiled by Frommer's Guide - a leading travel publisher.

The Frommer's list of 10 is said to include 'interesting, affordable destinations' and is aimed at travellers looking for a different holiday experience. Glasgow is the only European city in the list of the world's top 10 holiday destinations for this year. The list includes Amador County, scene of the Californian Gold Rush, and the Brazilian city of Belem, on the banks of the river Amazon in the rainforest. The Hawaiian island of Molokai and Kenya's wildlife reserves have also found place in the top 10 list. Goa has long been a favoured holiday destination of people in the West, starting from the hippie generation of the 1970s. Last month it was the most favoured destination of thousands of British tourists during the Christmas-New Year holidays. According to a survey by thetminute.com website, in December Goa had overtaken America as the top long-haul Christmas holiday destination. It jumped from third to first spot in 2005. Said John Bevan, flights director at lastminute.com: "Trips to India have outsold the (United) States this Christmas, which we believe is indicative of the country's booming tourism. "It's no longer just the preserve of backpackers, India is now a mainstream holidays choice." The guide also described Glasgow as "more cosmopolitan and modern" than Edinburgh and with a more "happening" nightlife. It praised the city's "radiant" Victorian architecture, public parks and art galleries and described the Burrell Art Collection in Pollok Park as a "must see" attraction. The top 10 destinations, according to Frommer's, are: Amador County, California. Belem, Brazil Charleston, South Carolina. Glasgow, Scotland. Charleston, South Carolina. Goa, India. Kenya game parks. Margarita, Venezuela. Molokai, Hawaii. Ramah, New Mexico. Tasmania, Australia.

Bangalore,Chennai office space among most cost-effective

Bangalore, where global companies are flocking to set up their major offshore centres, is among the most cost-effective destinations in the world in terms of the occupancy costs.

In a survey by the global property adviser DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, Bangalore's office cost per workstation is $3,290 per annum and Chennai's is lower at $2,310. As against this, Mumbai costs $8,490 and Delhi $6,650.

In DTZ's ninth annual Global Office Occupancy Costs survey, Bangalore and Chennai figures in the list at 103 and 110 positions respectively out of 117.

Mumbai and Delhi are ranked 20 and 43, respectively, placing them among the most expensive office locations in the world. The two cities were ranked 40 and 60 respectively in 2005.

The most expensive office space in the world is in London (West End), Washington DC and Hong Kong, in that order. In the Asia Pacific region, Mumbai and Delhi rank as high as 4th and 7th respectively whereas Bangalore is 10th.

Mumbai and Delhi have experienced one of the largest increases in real estate costs, according to the 2006 survey, with year-on-year growth of 27 per cent and 29 per cent respectively, behind Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific region.

The survey, is a guide to accommodation costs in prime office locations covering 117 business districts in 46 countries worldwide.

Ranking for the 2006 survey focussed on a per workstation basis to better reflect the costs of accommodation.

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and has a rapidly expanding real estate market. This is fuelling the surge in office occupancy costs across the country.

According to Ankur Srivastava, managing director, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung India, "The continued demand for space from the IT/IT-enabled services and business process outsourcing sectors is the main driver behind the growth in costs, along with the trend of large occupiers seeking consolidation and large built-to-suit facilities."

London (West End) continued to maintain its pole position in the global ranking with occupancy costs of $18,740 per workstation per annum despite a drop of 3 per cent year-on-year from 2005.

Washington DC claimed the second position with $15,370 per workstation per annum. Notably, Hong Kong posted a strong increase to $15,000 per workstation per annum and moved up 12 places to become the world's third most expensive location.

The remaining cities in the previous top ten list experienced minor changes in ranking. In Western Europe, six locations were amongst the top ten. London (West End), Paris, London (City), Frankfurt and Dublin remained while Luxembourg, a new addition, claimed tenth position with $11,260 per workstation per annum.

Similarly, ranking for the ten least expensive office locations remained almost unchanged from last year. Similar to 2005, the Philippines remains the least expensive office location with an average cost of $1,290 per workstation per annum in Makati and 860 per workstation per annum in Ortigas.

China no match for our business confidence

A marked shift in patterns of business confidence has been found in the Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey 2006. The survey finds Indian business owners at the top for the third year in a row despite China's entry into the study.

While there was a dramatic fall in confidence among business owners in the US and the UK, there was a marked rise in optimism among those in Japan and Germany about their prospects, stated a company statement.

The survey, which was conducted in 30 countries, unraveled the level of confidence that the business community reposed in the future prospects of their countries.

The robust performers of recent times like the US and the UK have seen waning optimism while the powerhouses of the 1960's to 1980's, Japan and Germany, are viewed as having better prospects by medium-sized businesses.

India had continued to soar in economic confidence, with the most optimistic business owners of all, third year in a row with an optimism/pessimism balance of +93, added the release. China, the first-time participant in the survey, had a confidence score of +77.

IBOS is the only of its kind of study that focuses on the views of international business owners of medium-sized enterprises on their outlook for their economy, their businesses and their views on other topical issues.

According to the release, the confidence of business owners in the US regarding the economy has dropped by nearly half from +62 to +32 in one year.

The fall has been even more dramatic in the UK, from +46 to just +8. Amongst the gainers, Germany's balance this year was +41 and Japan, although remains still negative at -14, it may be on the cusp of a serious revival in confidence.

India, China to own 2/3 of world capital by 2050

By 2050 there will be a situation where two-thirds of world capital will be owned by the Asian countries like India and China, said Jeremy Siegel, the Russell E Palmer professor of Finance, on the first day of the Wharton Alumni Forum, being held in Mumbai.

The demographic changes in developing countries such as India and the developed ones like the US and European countries would alter the capital ownership patterns across continents, he added.

Siegel further said, "The US will see rising life expectancy. There will be fewer workers to produce goods, coupled with a lot more ageing population who would want to consume those goods."

Which, according to Siegel, raises two questions: Who will produce the goods that are required by a vast section of the older population? And, who will buy the assets owned by the older population?

This is because younger people provide goods and the older people transfer their assets -be it in terms of physical assets or even intangibles such as knowledge and experience.

That's where the developing countries like India will have a key role to play. India could see more younger people in the working age-group and fewer outside the working age.

Siegel summarised: "Developed countries will have to buy these goods from India and, in turn, transfer their assets to the people from this nation."

This is in sync with the mindset prevalent in the developed economy whereby the older populace in certain developed locations in the states like Florida, for instance, which have sold assets to the young in exchange for imported goods from the other 49 states.

A large worker popoulation would also mean larger production of goods and this would result in "India and China cornering twice the GDP of the developed world."

Economic Freedom Worldwide

Hong Kong and Singapore, the economic jewels of Asia, are the world's freest economies, according to the 12th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

India, however, is way behind at 121^st spot in a list of 157 countries graded in the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom.

Even Botswana (30), Pakistan (110), China (111), Belize (55), Mongolia (61), Uganda (66), Bolivia (67), Cambodia (68), Lebanon (73), Swaziland (79), Lesotho (99), Zambia (112), Mozambique (114), Cameroon (120) are ahead of India in terms of economic freedom.

Meanwhile, in the overall ranking Ireland overtook Luxembourg and Estonia and moved up to No. 3, and Iceland moved up three spaces to No. 5, where it is tied with the United Kingdom.

The Most Free

Hong Kong (1st)

Singapore (2nd)

Ireland (3rd)

Luxembourg (4th)

Iceland (5th)

United Kingdom (5th)

Estonia (7th)

Denmark (8th)

Australia (9th)

New Zealand (9th)

United States (9th)

The United States improved enough to re-enter the top 10 after falling out last year for the first time ever. It's tied for 9th worldwide with Australia and New Zealand.

The world is economically freer today than it was a year ago which means greater prosperity for those countries that embrace open markets.

The Index findings are straightforward, according to editors Marc A Miles, Kim R Holmes and Mary Anastasia O'Grady. 'The countries with the most economic freedom also have higher rates of long-term economic growth and are more prosperous than are those with less economic freedom,' the report says.

The Least Free

Turkmenistan (148th)

Laos (149th)

Cuba (150th)

Belarus (151st)

Libya (152nd)

Venezuela (152nd)

Zimbabwe (154th)

Burma (155th)

Iran (156th)

North Korea (157th)

Of the 157 countries graded in the 2006 Index, 99 improved their overall scores, compared to 51 whose scores worsened and five that remained unchanged. Overall, 20 are classified as 'free,' 52 as 'mostly free,' 73 as 'mostly unfree' and 12 as 'repressed.'

Countries receive a 1-5 rating -- with one being the best -- on 10 broad measures of economic freedom: trade policy, fiscal burden of government, government intervention in the economy, monetary policy, capital flows and foreign investment, banking and finance, wages and prices, property rights, regulation and informal (or black) market activity.

Those scores are averaged to create an overall score. The top finishers are classified as free economies, followed by mostly free, mostly unfree and repressed economies.

The links between countries that embrace economic freedom and prosperity are long established. Those in countries with 'mostly unfree' or 'repressed' economies earn 70 percent less than those in countries with 'mostly free' economies, the Index editors say. And those in 'free' economies enjoy a per capita income more than twice what those in 'mostly free' economies earn.

Here are the economies that have made the greatest changes since the 2005 Index:

Top 10 Improved (Score Change)

Pakistan (0.40)

Romania (0.39)

Kyrgyz Republic (0.35)

Suriname (0.33)

Armenia (0.32)

Turkmenistan (0.32)

Georgia (0.31)

Turkey (0.30)

Tajikistan (0.29)

Kazakhstan (0.26)

Over the last 10 years, more and more countries have embraced policies that promote economic freedom. As a result, this year the average Index score falls into the 'mostly free' (2.98; the cutoff is 3) category for the first time -- although the median score (3.04) remains just over the line in the 'mostly unfree' category.

Sadly, this message doesn't seem to get through where it's needed most. The prosperous countries of the North America/Europe region -- spurred by rapid moves toward economic freedom by the former Soviet republics -- show consistent improvement. But regions such as Latin America, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, which, to its credit, continues to improve on its Index scores -- continue to lag behind in prosperity because of the protectionist economic policies of their governments.

Top 10 Worsened (Score Change)

Iran (0.30)

Italy (0.22)

Guinea (0.22)

Bolivia (0.21)

United Arab Emirates (0.20)

Oman (0.20)

Equatorial Guinea (0.16)

Sri Lanka (0.16)

Egypt (0.16)

El Salvador (0.15)

Nicaragua (0.15)

North America and Europe

The world's most economically open region holds seven of the world's 11 freest economies and 15 of the top 20. Thirty-three countries, led by Austria, Germany and Cyprus, which joined the ranks of 'free' economies, improved their scores; only 10 declined. Romania was the region's most improved country and the world's second most improved, and Georgia joined the ranks of 'mostly free' economies for the first time. The region received a boost when the 10 eastern European countries that joined the European Union in May 2004 adopted its more open trade policies (albeit unevenly) and improved as a result. Belarus remained last in the region in economic freedom.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Economic freedom improved marginally this year with 15 countries improving on their Index scores and only 10 declining. Chile, the region's most dynamic economy, remains its only member of 'free' economic club. The region also includes three 'repressed' economies -- Cuba (which showed some improvement), Haiti and Venezuela. It also includes three countries among the 10 that showed the biggest declines this year -- Bolivia, El Salvador and Nicaragua, which slipped from the 'mostly free' to the 'mostly unfree' category.

North Africa and the Middle East

The only region to experience a net decline in economic freedom in last year's Index, North Africa and the Middle East saw another decline this year as seven of 11 countries recorded worse scores. Bahrain declined for the second straight year but remained the freest in the region despite deriving 80 percent of its revenues from the state-controlled oil company. Iran and Libya remain the two least-free economies, but they're moving in different directions. Libya is still consider 'repressed' due to state-dominated industry, trade protectionism and heavy regulation, but it was the most improved in the region for the second straight year, thanks to better scores in fiscal burden of government, capital flows and foreign investment and banking and finance. Iran, meanwhile, continued its downward spiral -- it recorded its lowest score since 2002 -- because entrenched bureaucrats and Islamic hard-liners continue to conspire against reform.

Sub-Saharan Africa

The region still lacks a free economy, but one, Botswana, did vault into the world's top 30, with improved scores on government intervention and fiscal burden of government. Regional improvement did continue, with economic freedom advancing in 25 countries and declining in just 12. Angola and Burundi were ranked in the Index for the first time. Benin was the region's most improved, while Guinea suffered the biggest decline.

Asia-Pacific

This region remains a study in contrast. Hong Kong and Singapore continue to lead the world in economic freedom, and the region includes four of the nine freest economies. In all, 19 countries in the region improved their Index scores from 2005, and just nine declined. Also, four Asia-Pacific countries -- Pakistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan -- are among the 10 most improved. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan no longer qualify as 'repressed.' But the region also is home to more 'repressed' economies than any other, including last-place-finisher North Korea.

Following is the overall ranking:

Rank	Country	Overall Score
1	Hong Kong	1.28
2	Singapore	1.56
3	Ireland	1.58
4	Luxembourg	1.60
5	Iceland	1.74
6	United Kingdom	1.74
7	Estonia	1.75
8	Denmark	1.78
9	Australia	1.84
10	New Zealand	1.84
11	United States	1.84
12	Canada	1.85
13	Finland	1.85
14	Chile	1.88
15	Switzerland	1.89
16	Cyprus	1.90
17	Netherlands, The	1.90
18	Austria	1.95
19	Germany	1.96
20	Sweden	1.96
21	Czech Republic	2.10
22	Belgium	2.11
23	Lithuania	2.14
24	Malta	2.16
25	Bahrain	2.23
26	Barbados	2.25
27	Armenia	2.26
28	Bahamas, the	2.26
29	Japan	2.26
30	Botswana	2.29
31	Norway	2.29
32	Portugal	2.29
33	Spain	2.33
34	El Salvador	2.35
35	Slovak Republic	2.35
36	Israel	2.36
37	Taiwan (China, Republic of)	2.38
38	Slovenia	2.41
39	Latvia	2.43
40	Hungary	2.44
41	Poland	2.49
42	Italy	2.50
43	Trinidad and Tobago	2.50
44	France	2.51
45	Korea, Republic of (South Korea)	2.63
46	Cape Verde	2.69
47	Costa Rica	2.69
48	Uruguay	2.69
49	Panama	2.70
50	Kuwait	2.74
51	South Africa	2.74
52	Albania	2.75
53	Madagascar	2.75
54	Jamaica	2.76
55	Belize	2.78
56	Croatia	2.78
57	Greece	2.80
58	Jordan	2.80
59	Macedonia	2.80
60	Mexico	2.83
61	Mongolia	2.83
62	Saudi Arabia	2.84
63	Peru	2.86
64	Bulgaria	2.88
65	United Arab Emirates	2.93
66	Uganda	2.95
67	Bolivia	2.96
68	Cambodia	2.98
69	Georgia	2.98
70	Malaysia	2.98
71	Kyrgyz Republic	2.99
72	Thailand	2.99
73	Lebanon	3.00
74	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3.01
75	Guatemala	3.01
76	Oman	3.01
77	Mauritius	3.03
78	Qatar	3.04
79	Swaziland	3.04
80	Nicaragua	3.05
81	Brazil	3.08
82	Mauritania	3.08
83	Moldova	3.10
84	Senegal	3.10
85	Guyana	3.11
86	Namibia	3.11
87	Turkey	3.11
88	Ivory Coast	3.14
89	Mali	3.14
90	Fiji	3.15
91	Colombia	3.16
92	Romania	3.19
93	Sri Lanka	3.19
94	Djibouti	3.20
95	Kenya	3.20
96	Tanzania	3.20
97	Morocco	3.21
98	Philippines, The	3.23
99	Lesotho	3.24
100	Tunisia	3.24
101	Ukraine	3.24
102	Burkina Faso	3.28
103	Gabon	3.28
104	Honduras	3.28
105	Chad	3.29
106	Ghana	3.29
107	Argentina	3.30
108	Ecuador	3.30
109	Paraguay	3.31
110	Pakistan	3.33
111	China, People's Republic of	3.34
112	Zambia	3.34
113	Kazakhstan	3.35
114	Mozambique	3.35
115	Niger	3.38
116	Dominican Republic	3.39
117	Benin	3.40
118	Central African Republic	3.41
119	Algeria	3.46
120	Cameroon	3.46
121	India	3.49
122	Russia	3.50
123	Azerbaijan	3.51
124	Gambia, The	3.51
125	Nepal	3.53
126	Rwanda	3.53
127	Guinea	3.55
128	Egypt	3.59
129	Suriname	3.60
130	Malawi	3.63
131	Guinea-Bissau	3.65
132	Burundi	3.69
133	Ethiopia	3.70
134	Indonesia	3.71
135	Togo	3.71
136	Equatorial Guinea	3.74
137	Sierra Leone	3.76
138	Tajikistan	3.76
139	Angola	3.84
140	Yemen	3.84
141	Bangladesh	3.88
142	Vietnam	3.89
143	Congo, Republic of	3.90
144	Uzbekistan	3.91
145	Syria	3.93
146	Nigeria	4.00
147	Haiti	4.03
148	Turkmenistan	4.04
149	Laos	4.08
150	Cuba	4.10
151	Belarus	4.11
152	Libya	4.16
153	Venezuela	4.16
154	Zimbabwe	4.23
155	Burma (Myanmar)	4.46
156	Iran	4.51
157	Korea, Democratic Republic of (North Korea)	5.00
158	Congo, (Democratic Republic of)	-
159	Iraq	-
160	Serbia and Montenegro	-
161	Sudan	-