The study compares the information technology (IT) industry environments of 66 economies, to determine the extent to which they enable IT sector competitiveness.
"India will not only continue to be an IT power but will become a global leader of IT innovation, products and services. India's true potential in near future will rest on its ability to indigenously innovate on cutting edge technology, increase domestic investment in R&D activities, promote the value of intellectual property and drive down menace of counterfeiting and piracy," Keshav S Dhakad, Chair of the BSA India Committee.
"We are pleased to see that in this year's index, India has shown strong improvement in its overall IT competitiveness ranking which is a very positive indicator of progress for one of the country's most dynamic industries," he said.
Conversely, the slow march of broadband in emerging markets, including those with large IT sectors such as India, Brazil and Russia, could impede their IT firms' growth, the study states.
"India has maintained its ability to develop strong talent and maintain a conducive business environment, which is reflective in the six drivers of competitiveness. This year's ranking is indicative of the progressive initiatives taken by the government & the industry on human capital and support for IT development."
Although India continues to perform well in enabling an open, transparent business environment and providing support for the IT industry, development of a sound IT infrastructure and enhancement of the R&D environment in the country still remain areas which need improvement.
India has shown some improvement in its R&D environment, moving from a score of 0.6, last year to 22.0 this year. It has also shown strong performance in the business environment and encouraging improvements in the legal environment. India still continues to have the advantage of human capital. However, fluctuating performance in IT infrastructure needs improvement.
In fast growing markets like India, large pools of skilled IT employees remain a significant advantage, but uneven progress in other areas -- such as IT infrastructure -- remains a drag on sector competitiveness. As the Internet becomes all pervasive, slow uptake in broadband and PC penetration has had a significant impact on the IT infrastructure in India.
Robust IP protection remains essential to IT sector competitiveness. As innovation gradually becomes more important than low-cost labour to IT firms in India, improvements in IP enforcement and the overall legal environment would make the country more competitive in the IT landscape.
Within Asia Pacific, India ranks amongst the top ten countries, with the top three positions held by Australia, Singapore and Japan. Coordinated efforts among governments, universities and IT firms in the region are needed to improve the quality of technology training. As in India, robust IP protection and broadband penetration are some of the key concerns in the Asia Pacific region.
1. United States -- Score: 78.9
2. Finland -- Score: 73.6
3. Sweden -- Score: 71.5
4. Canada -- Score: 71.3
5. The Netherlands -- Score: 70.7
6. United Kingdom -- Score: 70.2
7. Australia -- Score: 68.7
8. Denmark -- Score: 68.6
9. Singapore -- Score: 68.2
10. Norway -- Score: 67.1
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