India better networked than China

China, the hub of global IT manufacturing, lags behind India in the overall rating of the world's most networked economies covering total 127 countries. India’s arch rival in the information technology is seven places behind India which ranks at 50 th position in the Global Information Technology Report for 2007-2008 published by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF).

However, while India is down four places at 50, China has improved its ranking by five positions to reach 57.

Among Asian countries, South Korea, at ninth place, notched up one of the most impressive improvements by going up 10 places from last year. Other Asian economies featured in the top 20 are: Singapore (fifth), Hong Kong (11th), Australia (14th), Taiwan (17th), and Japan (19th).

Europe remains the most important player in networked readiness this year. Denmark is the single most networked economy in the world, followed by Sweden and Switzerland. Eight other European countries figure in the top 20 -- Austria, Britain, Estonia, Finland, Germany Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway.

The failure of India and China to make it to the top 20 is mainly on account of their poor infrastructure for information and communication technologies (ICTs), said Irene Mia, senior economist of the Global Competitiveness Network at the WEF and co-editor of the report.

"India and China have progressed enormously in the last decade or so, becoming global leaders in high-tech services (notably India) and goods (notably China) exports. Nevertheless the areas and clusters of excellence present in those countries are not the only reality," Mia said.

"If you look at the global picture, bearing in mind we took a snapshot of the whole country in both cases, the infrastructure for ICT is still lagging behind -- 71st for India and 86th for China. So is individual usage -- 109th for India and 80th for China," she added.

By contrast, developed countries are striding rapidly ahead with an increased recognition of connectivity as a key component of public infrastructure in general, the report said.