India tanks to 105th spot from 79th in global economic freedom ranking

The ranking is for the year 2018 and does not take into account the impact of newer issues like the Covid-19 crisis, whose impact would become evident only two years later

India’s ranking in economic freedom tumbled to 105th among 162 countries in 2018 from 79th in the previous year, according to a report released by the Centre for Civil Society in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute.

This was despite the fact that the report did not take into account the Covid impact which would be available in 2020. The major disappointment for India came on the parameter “freedom to trade internationally” on which India ranked 139th compared to 137 in 2017, showed the Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 Annual Report.

The other major disappointment was India’s ranking on “regulation” where it