India 43rd in global competitiveness ranking

India has moved up two places on the World Economic Forum's list of most competitive economies to the 43rd rank, primarily due to quality of scientific research and the number of scientists and engineers the country produces.

Switzerland has replaced the United States as the world's most competitive economy, which has dropped to the sixth position in the annual ranking released on Tuesday.

India has been ranked above countries like China, South Africa, Vietnam and Brazil on the list of 125 countries, which is based on various factors affecting a nation's business environment and economic development.

India has been ranked 27th in an accompanying list -- Business Competitiveness Index. It has also been placed at the 27th position for the quality of national business environment ranking and at 25th position in the company operations and strategy ranking.

WEF said India's overall rank of 43 demonstrates remarkably high scores in the "capacity for innovation and sophistication of firm operations." "This is especially true of the quality of scientific research and the number of scientists and engineers, which are increasingly supplying highly skilled professionals to the private sector," it added.

However, the WEF noted that India's health and education sectors were insufficient and that successive governments had proven "remarkably ineffective" in reducing the public sector deficit.