In a positive development, India has climbed to the 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a leap of 41 places in seven years. 

Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are the world’s most-innovative economies, according to WIPO’s 2022 GII with China on the threshold of the top 10. 

Other emerging economies are also showing consistently strong performance, including India and Turkey, both of which enter the top 40 for the first time.

Talking about Central and Southern Asia, India is leading the region and reached the top 40, after making it into the top 50 in 2020 and Iran (53) and Uzbekistan (82) follow.

India is the innovation leader in the lower middle-income group, WIPO said in a statement. 

It continues to lead the world in ICT services exports and holds top rankings in other indicators, including venture capital receipt value, finance for startups and scaleups, graduates in science and engineering, labour productivity growth and domestic industry diversification, it added. 

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter and wrote, "India Innovating Like Never Before! India climbs to the 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index of @WIPO, a huge leap of 41 places in 7 years."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, "Innovation is the buzzword across India. Proud of our innovators. We’ve come a long way and want to scale even newer heights."