India and Trade Organisations

India and Trade Organisations

Trade Organisations and India’s Global Rankings

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• The International Monetary Fund was established on 27th December 1945, on the basis of a decision taken in the Bretton Woods Conference, and it started functioning w.e.f. 1st March, 1947.

• The total number of member countries of the IMF in 2017 was 188.

• The function of the IMF is to encourage financial and economic cooperation between member countries and to extend world trade.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

• IBRD was established in 1945.

• IBRD, along with other institutions, is also called the World Bank.

• The other institutions are the International Finance Corporation, the International Development Agency, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

• Presently, it is helping member countries in capital investment and encouraging long-term balanced development.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

• GATT came into being on 30th October, 1947, and started functioning from 1st January, 1948.

• The principle of GATT was an equal tariffs policy to remove quantitative restrictions and dispose of business disputes in a democratic way.

• On 1st January 1995, the World Trade Organization took over the place and position of GATT.

• The headquarters of the WTO is in Geneva, and the number of its member countries in April 2018 was 164.

• India is a founding member of it.

India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement

• The India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement came into effect on January 1, 2010, though it was signed on August 13, 2009.

• The signing of the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement paved the way for the creation of one of the world's largest Free Trade Areas (FTAs), a market of almost 1.8 billion people with a combined GDP of US$ 2.75 trillion.

India’s Rank in Different Indexes

International Intellectual Property Index (IIP Index) 2024

• India was ranked 42nd out of 55 countries.

Human Development Report 2023-24

• India was ranked 134th out of 193 countries worldwide on the Human Development Report 2023-24 released on March 13, 2024, by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

• Switzerland emerged on top of the UNDP Human Development Report 2023-24.

World Happiness Report 2024

• Finland was adjudged the world's happiest nation, emerging on top of the 2024 World Happiness Report released on March 20, 2024.

Corruption Perception Index 2023

• Transparency International unveiled the 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) on January 30, 2024, disclosing a list of the world's most corrupt countries.

• India ranks 93rd in this list of the Global Corruption Index, 2023.

• Denmark is on the top in this list with a score of 90, closely followed by Finland and New Zealand.

• The most corrupt countries are Somalia, Venezuela, and Syria.

Economic Freedom of World Report 2023

• Released by the Canadian think tank Fraser Institute.

• The EFW index rates 165 jurisdictions (countries).

• The index measures the degree of economic freedom present in five major areas—size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

• In this index India is at the 87th position.

  • Top 3 countries:

    • Hong Kong (Rank 1)

    • Switzerland (Rank 2)

    • New Zealand (Rank 3).

  • Bottom 3 countries: Syria, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela.

World Talent Ranking 2023 (IMD)

• Out of 64 economies, India has slipped four spots to 56th position, compared to its 52nd position in 2022, in the 2023 World Talent Ranking, according to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

• Switzerland ranked on top, while Luxembourg was in second place, followed by Iceland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

International IP Index 2023

• Developed by the US Chamber of Commerce.

• Evaluates the robustness and efficiency of intellectual property (IP) frameworks established by policymakers worldwide.

• The 11th edition of the International IP Index, benchmarking the IP framework in 55 global economies across 50 unique indicators, has been published.

• The US is on top of the list, followed by the UK and France, while India is in 42nd place.

Global Peace Index 2023

• India at 126th Rank.

• The 17th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2023 was released by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) for 163 countries according to their level of peacefulness.

• GPI is the world's leading measure of global peacefulness.

• Iceland (Rank 1 with a score of 1.124) remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top by Denmark (Rank 2), Ireland (Rank 3), New Zealand (Rank 4), and Austria (Rank 5).

• Afghanistan (Rank 163 with score 3.448) is the least peaceful country in the world for the 6th consecutive year, followed by Yemen (Rank 162), Syria (Rank 161), South Sudan (160), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Rank 159).

• India is at 126th rank with a score of 2.314.

Global Gender Gap Index 2023

Released on June 20, 2023, by the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

The report assessed countries on four parameters—economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

Key findings of GGG Index 2023

• Iceland retained its place as the world's most gender-equal country, followed by Norway, Finland, New Zealand, and Sweden.

• The WEF warned that the cost of living crisis is expected to hit women hardest globally with a widening gender gap in the labor force, and it will take another 131 years (compared to 132 in 2022) to close the gender gap.

• Covid-19 has set gender parity back by a generation, and a weak recovery was making it worse globally.

• Out of the 146 economies surveyed, just one in five had managed to close the gender gap by at least 1% in the past year.

• India has been ranked low at 127th place in terms of gender parity, despite an improvement of eight places since last year on better performance in areas of economic participation and opportunity.

• This is a concern considering India ranked somewhere in the middle, bagging the 87th position worldwide just seven years ago, in 2016. India's gender gap has been widening greatly since 2020.

• Only 19 countries are ranked below India on the index of 146 nations, with Afghanistan, Vanuatu, Lebanon, Iran, and Nigeria being the worst five.

World Happiness Report 2024 (Extended Data)

The World Happiness Report 2024 has been released by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR Editorial Board.

• Finland was once again crowned as the world's happiest country.

• India has been ranked 126 out of 143 countries in the list of the UN World Happiness Report 2024.

  • Top 5 countries:

    • ​​​​​​​1. Finland

    • 2. Denmark

    • 3. Iceland

    • 4. Sweden

    • 5. Israel

  • Bottom 5 countries:

    • ​​​​​​​139. Congo

    • 140. Sierra Leone

    • 141. Lesotho

    • 142. Lebanon

    • 143. Afghanistan

[Source: WHR 2024]

Global Innovation Index 2023

• India has maintained its rank at 40 in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023, prepared by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

• The country's rank has been consistently rising in the last few years.

• From 81 in 2015, it has moved to 40 in 2022.

• GII 2023 captures the performance of 132 economies.

• India held the first position in its region rank in 2022.

[Source: WIPO Report, 2023]

Global Hunger Index 2023

• In the 2023 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 111th out of the 125 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2023 GHI scores.

• With a score of 28.7, India has a level of hunger that is serious.

Top 10 Economies in the World – 2024

[Source: Forbes India, 30 April, 2024]

Final Thoughts

India plays an active role in global trade through organizations like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, and regional deals such as the India-ASEAN Trade Agreement. These institutions support cooperation, fair trade, and long-term development.

On global rankings, India has made progress in innovation and intellectual property, ranking 40th in the Global Innovation Index and 42nd in the IP Index. However, it still faces challenges with lower positions in the Human Development Report (134th), Global Hunger Index (111th), and World Happiness Report (126th). Economically, India is the 5th largest economy in the world, but its per capita GDP remains low compared to developed countries.

Overall, India shows steady progress in trade and innovation but needs to improve in human development, equality, and living standards.