India is ranked as the fourth most powerful country of Asia

By Sanjeev SharmNew Delhi, Dec 5, : India is the fourth-most powerful country in Asia according to the Lowy Institute Asia power Index 2021.

The Lowy Institutes 2018 Asia Power Index measures influence and resources to rank the relative power in Asia.

The project maps the current distribution of power and tracks changes in the balance of power over the years.India is ranked as Asias middle power.

India is the fourth most powerful country of Asia and will again fall short of the threshold for major power in 2021.Its overall score fell by two points in comparison to 2020.

The report stated that India is one of 18 countries in the region that will see a decline in its overall score by 2021.The country ranks second in the future resource measure, just behind China and the US.Lowy Institute stated that the decline in growth potential of Asias third-largest economy, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, has resulted in a lower economic forecast for 2030.India is 4th in four other measures: military capability, economic capability, resilience, and cultural influence.India is moving in opposite directions when it comes to its two weakest measures.

It is still 7th in its defense networks.This is a reflection of its progress in regional defence diplomacy, particularly with the Quadrilateral security Dialogue, which includes Australia and Japan.

Lowy Institute stated that India has fallen to 8th for economic relations, as it continues to fall behind regional trade integration efforts.Indias negative power gap score indicates that it exerts less influence than expected in the region, given its resources.

Comparable to previous years, its negative power gap score has declined further in 2021.According to the report, many emerging economies, including India have been most severely affected compared to their pre-Covid growth pathways.

This could lead to increased bipolarity in Indo-Pacific due to the increasing power differential between the US and China in relation to almost every other emerging power in this region.According to Lowy Institute, the top 10 countries in Asia-Pacific for overall power are the US, China Japan, India, Russia and South Korea.

The USA beat the downward trend in 2021, and has now overtaken China in two important rankings.However, its gains are hampered by a rapid decline in economic influence.

Chinas total power has been eroded for the first time.There is no clear path to undisputed supremacy in the Indo-Pacific.

The regional power balance will continue to be affected by the unbalanced economic effects and recovery from the pandemic.Only Taiwan, the United States, and Singapore are now expected to have larger economies by 2030 than was originally predicted before the pandemic.

Even richer countries like Japan have seen their economic prospects improve relative to 2020.China, which escaped a recession last year is not far behind.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at sanjeev.s@ians.in) san/pg #India #ranked #fourth #powerful #Asia #Delhi.