Citizens of India are losing trust in politicians, and this finding comes at a time crucial assembly elections have been announced and general elections are not far either. India is placed 115th among 148 countries on this count in the Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014.

The report, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), notes that public trust in politicians has been eroding since 2009, when UPA began its second innings. From the subsequent year, the government has been hit with a number of mega scams.

The report ranks India among the bottom 35 countries with major trust deficit between citizens and politicians. On several counts, India scored less than its neighbours. It has found that bribery remains deep-rooted in the system, taking the country to rank 110 on this count. “India has lost almost 30 ranks on this indicator since 2010,” the report notes.

WEF studied data from its own annual executive opinion survey of 13,000 business leaders across the globe and data sourced from various international organisations. It also analysed institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health, education, goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation to prepare the ranking.

The business community has slammed the rickety infrastructure of the country. “The Indian business community repeatedly cites infrastructure as the single biggest hindrance to doing business, ahead of corruption and cumbersome bureaucracy,” says the report. The country is ranked at 85 on infrastructure count.

“Penetration rates of fixed and mobile internet and telephony among the population remain among the lowest in developing Asia,” the report added.

Highlights of the report:

• On global competitiveness, India slips to 60 with a score of 4.28
• On infrastructure, India is ranked at 85
• India ranks at 94 on favouritism in decisions of government officials
• India ranks at 98 on diversion of public funds
• On judicial independence from influences of government officials, India is ranked at 40. Its position much better than China (57th rank) but not South Africa (28th rank)
• The debt-to-GDP ratio is the second highest among the BRICS
• On technological readiness (98th), India is again ranked very low
• The country ranks at 99 in terms of labour market efficiency
• With ratio women-to-men of 0.36 (137th), India has the lowest percentage of working women outside the Arab world
• A prime cause of India’s low productivity is very poor public health and education levels where it stands 102nd
• India is ranked 72 in institutional pillar, two places down from the last year data
• On annual inflation, India ranks at 130
• On government budget balance to percentage of GDP is concerned, India fares lowly at 141

Read the report