Is it not great when if a World Bank official says, ‘It took four months in 2005 to start a business in India, but it takes only 29 days now.’? And some good news…..

1. India now ranks 130 out of 189 countries in the ease of doing business.”A forward movement of 12 spots in the ease of doing business by an economy of the size of India is a ‘remarkable achievement. Going from 142 in the world to 130, as India has done, is very good sign.” The World Bank has said in a separate box that India is the biggest reformer.

2. India is ranked 8 globally in protection of minority investors, ahead of many developed economies including the US, Germany and Japan.

3. India has moved up one position to become the world’s seventh most valued ‘nation brand’, with an increase of 32 per cent in its brand value to USD 2.1 billion. The surge of 32 per cent in India’s ‘nation brand value’ is the highest among all the top-20 countries on the list.

4. India has pulled ahead of China and the United States to take pole position as the most favoured destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the Financial Times, having received $31 billion – $3 and $4 billion more than China and the US respectively.

5. India continues to top the global confidence index.

6. India will remain the world’s fastest growing information technology (IT) market in 2016 as it is expected to spend more than $72 billion on IT services, products and hardware, up from 7.2% from the current year, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

7. As the second-fastest growing and third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world, India is moving at a frenetic pace.
8. The Strategy& study found China and India recorded R&D spending growth of 79 percent and 116 percent, respectively, between 2007 and 2015.

9. The first ever global report commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering has revealed that while just 20% of 16 to 17 year-olds from the UK and 30% from the USA are interested in an engineering career, in India the rate is as high as 80% – the highest in the world.

10. India has made significant progress in the past two years in financial transparency . According to the global financial secrecy index (FSI) report released by Tax Justice Network (TJN), India ranked 45 in the list of 92 countries in 2015 in comparison to 32 in 2013, which is seen as a big jump.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked ninth on the Forbes list of powerful people for 2015, up six places from last year when he was at number 15.

Another study is more satisfying for India. “In the study of 175 countries by anti-graft organisation Transparency International, India ranked 85, ahead China which came at 100, the Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 said. On a rating of up to 100, India scored 38, two points ahead of China’s 36. India’s score grew by two points over last year’s assessment.”

Are these not something to celebrate? Should we get bogged down by the intolerance debate or controversy on which the media is wasting its time? Why should we all not debate to sustain and improve on these global rankings?