Article: India Rises to 81st Rank on Global Talent Competitiveness Index

Talent Management

India Rises to 81st Rank on Global Talent Competitiveness Index

Despite registering an improvement in its performance this year, India still faces challenges in talent competitiveness, says the recently released 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index at World Economic Forum.
India Rises to 81st Rank on Global Talent Competitiveness Index

The Global Talent Competitiveness Index, which is released every year on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has ranked India at the 81st position on the 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI). This is a marked improvement from its last years’ position of 92 and 89th rank in 2016, yet the report also highlights the many challenges that plague talent in the country. 

Switzerland continued its winning streak and ended up at the top position on the GTCI. The GTCI website reads, “Developed by INSEAD, the Adecco Group, and TATA Communications, the GTCI provides a benchmarking tool for governments, cities, businesses and not-for-profit organizations to help design their talent strategies, overcome talent mismatches and be competitive in the global marketplace.” Insead’s website describes the index as “an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent. The index measures how countries grow, attract and retain talent, and provides a resource for decision-makers to develop strategies for boosting their talent competitiveness.” Each year the index focuses on one crucial aspect of talent, and this year the theme was ‘Diversity for Competitiveness’. The index is in its fifth edition this year.

The index ranks a total of 119 countries. Overall, European countries dominate the top slots in the list, and 15 countries from the continent made it to the top twenty-five countries of the GTCI 2018:

1. Switzerland

2. Singapore

3. United States of America

4. Norway

5. Sweden

6. Finland

7. Denmark

8. United Kingdom

9. Netherlands

10. Luxembourg

11. Australia

12. New Zealand

13. Ireland

14. Iceland 

15. Canada

16. Belgium

17. United Arab Emirates

18. Austria

19. Germany

20. Japan

21. France

22. Estonia

23. Qatar

24. Israel 

25. Czech Republic

While the United States rose one position (from 4th to 3rd), United Kingdom fell from the 3rd position last year to eighth this year. Despite the improvement, India was ranked the lowest amongst BRICS nations, a tradition that has been carried over from 2017. China (43), Russia (53), South Africa (63) and Brazil (73) have all improved their positions this year. The report says that despite slowing growth in emerging markets, BRICS cannot be ignored in the global talent race; while India may be the worst performing country in the group overall, it has scored average in the fields of Formal Education (67), Lifelong Learning (37) and General Knowledge Skills (63). The report also warned that India faces “serious risk of worsening brain drain” as it ranks 98th in luring back talented diaspora and ranks 99th in retaining its own talent. The report says, “Without a doubt, an improvement in India would have the greatest impact in terms of the pool of talent not only in this region but also globally. As discussed in the BRICS section, India has been able to create a stable pool of Global Knowledge Skills but it has suffered in the Retain pillar (99th). Although diasporas have been engaged successfully in some industries, a great deal of talent continues to leave the country, and thus India still experiences a brain drain.”

The pattern is undeniably evident: high-income countries with robust education and skilling systems accumulate towards the top of the list, whereas, lower income countries which are unable to manage their human capital effectively appear much lower. In terms of city rankings, Zurich (Switzerland), Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway) secured the top three positions as global talent champions. As pointed out by this Tata Communications release, top-ranking countries and cities have ‘flexible regulatory and business landscape’, ‘employment policies which combine flexibility’ and social protection’ and ‘external and internal openness’. The report also concludes that diversity holds untapped potential for competitiveness.

The report serves as an exhaustive and data-rich information source for comprehending talent trends in the world, and of different countries. Furthermore, it discusses in great detail the varied factors that have direct, and indirect, impact on the performance of talent in different regions, and analyses shortcomings, strengths and opportunities for countries as well. It is highly recommended to any individual who wishes to understand the complex and dynamic issues of talent competition and management, for it will help attain a comprehensive understanding of global and domestic forces that dictate talent competitiveness. 

You can access the complete report here

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Topics: Talent Management, Skilling

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