[sivaharimani]

India 69th on Global Eco Freedom Index

India improved its ranking in providing freedom to do business in terms of personal choice and competition since it launched economic reforms in 1991 but still remains at 69 among 141 countries.

According to the Economic Freedom of the World Report 2007 released by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday, India's overall ranking on the global economic freedom index improved to 69 in 2005 from 80 in 1990. However, the ranking which had improved to 60 in 2004 went back to 69 in 2005, the report said.

The rating on a scale of 10 improved from 4.9 to 6.6."This is one of the largest increases in the last 15 years of any country," the report said.

Among the five components of the EFW index, the largest increase for India is in 'Freedom to Trade Internationally,' where India's score improved to 7.0 in 2005 from 3.9 in 1990.

Factors like lower unemployment, higher per capita GDP, higher income for the poor characterise nations with high level of economic freedom, it said.

The report compares the level of economic freedom in 141 countries. As a global index, it measures the degree to which policies and institutions of these countries are supportive of economic freedom, which includes elements like personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete and security of privately owned property.