Observing that economic development of a country is powered by knowledge-based capabilities, President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday emphasised the need to improve India's competitiveness and put it in the top ten among the comity of nations.
"The Global Competitiveness Report for 2005-06 ranks Switzerland at the number one spot. Singapore is fifth, the US sixth, South Korea 24, UAE 32, India 43 and China is 54. India's growth in competitiveness is yet to pick up. It should improve from 43 to at least 10 in a decade," he said.
Kalam was speaking after inaugurating an international symposium on automative technology. The seminar was organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers in India at the Automotive Research Association of India's campus in Pune.
Besides knowledge, other important factors that shape competitiveness are technology, innovation, resource investment, customer loyalty, quality and value of products, employee productivity, working environment and a creative leadership, said Kalam, who has co-authored a book on how to make India a developed country by 2020.
"Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect."
With several international companies entering automobile production in India, competitiveness has increased in production and marketing, Kalam noted.