India ranking in GII (Global Innovation Index) fell from 62nd to 81st in 2015. It has come back up to 60th in 2 years. This amounts to very little - India has remained an "Innovation Achiever" for 8 years; it has been soundly beaten by a few dynamic countries.

GII draws on a huge number of indicators where the broad narrative is more important than any indicator. Govt committee felt methodology on the business environment and political stability was not reflective of India's situation. It created its own innovation index and identified qualitative issues India should pursue economic growth and advancement. Two areas to correct are a gross deficit in education & stagnant R&D spend.

Weaknesses:
¶ Education & Research - very poor attainment in education eg. high pupil-teacher ratio & outmoded methods; and unremarkable innovation indicators eg. Bangalore is 1st for innovation in India but 43rd globally.
¶ Environmental performance - which is about regulations, licensing, patent protection, policy implementation and political will to drive innovation. This is expected to remain bad for at least another decade.
¶ Business environment (ease of doing business) - India is ranked 64th and rock bottom in ease of starting a business, tax admin & insolvency. Govt has worked hard here, so likely to see a big impact soon.
¶ Efficiency - which is about converting inputs to outcomes. India by virtue of its size has high inputs, but these don't deliver consummate benefits. India has improved efficiency.

India compares favourably within its income category. This is not impressive as India benefits from high scale effect. Thus it scores highly on market size, nos of science & engineering graduates, R&D expenditure of top 3 global Indian companies, etc. India does well in the IT industry, IT exports & market sophistication (trade, competition) and scraps through in top 3 university ranking.

Why India’s steady, if not spectacular, growth in Global Innovation Index is worth noting