India best bet for investors, BD ahead of US in BPI 2015 ranking

Bangladesh has been placed ahead of the USA in the global ranking of investment destinations, among 110 countries of the planet. India has been ranked No 1 by the Daniel Altman's Baseline Profitability Index (BPI) 2015. China has secured the 65th position, behind four South Asian countries – India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the 2015 BPI index, Sri Lanka has been ranked 10th, Bangladesh 48th and, surprisingly, Pakistan at 58th position ahead of China – the world’s second economic power after the US. According to BPI 2015 like India, all the three other South Asian countries have improved their positions in 2015, but Bangladesh has done that the least – jumping from 49th position in BPI 2014 to 48th in BPI 2015. Pakistan has jumped the most – from 97th in BPI 2014 to 58th in BPI 2015. In this year’s BPI ranking, US, which was 26th in 2014, is placed at 50th position – behind Bangladesh and ahead of Pakistan and China. In 2014 BPI index, India was in sixth position and Hong Kong was at number one. About Pakistan’s leapfrogging from 97th in 2014 to 58th in 2015, analysts say this is due to the huge Chinese investments promised for the Pak-China growth corridor. They say Bangladesh has failed to improve its position significantly because of political uncertainties and threat of violent agitations that is reflected in many surveys including the World Bank’s June global survey, according to a news agency.