Bureaucracy makes India uncompetitive

Another interesting factoid (or rather the opinion based on a survey of executives, p.13) from the the World Economic Forum’s “India Competitiveness Review 2009” that I had blogged about yesterday, is that “Inadequate supply of infrastructure” and “Inefficient government bureaucracy” account for 40% of “The Most Problematic Factors for Doing Business in India” compared to 11% for “Corruption”. Which means the perception is that the bureaucracy is really holding back India through poor design and poor implementation of their powers/discretions. In other words, India suffers more from the inaction (and wrong clinging to power and controls) of its honest people than it does of its dishonest people. While the line between the two is not always clear – lack of action will not typically create opportunities for bribes by the corrupt, but will shield the honest from wrong charges of corruption.