India 4th most powerful country in Asia: Report

New Delhi, Dec 06: India is the fourth most powerful country in Asia out of 26 nations on an index that measures their overall power, but trails behind in indicators of defence networks and economic relationships, as per the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 2021.

The annual Asia Power Index -- launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018 -- measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia.

As the fourth most powerful country in Asia, India again falls short of the major power threshold in 2021. Its overall score declined by two points compared to 2020. India is one of eighteen countries in the region to trend downward in its overall score in 2021.

The country performs best in the future resources measure, where it finishes behind only the United States and China. However, lost growth potential for Asia's third largest economy due largely to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has led to a diminished economic forecast for 2030.

India finishes in 4th place in four other measures: economic capability, military capability, resilience and cultural influence.

India is trending in opposite directions for its two weakest measures of power. On the one hand, it remains in 7th place in its defence networks, reflecting progress in its regional defence diplomacy - notably with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which includes Australia, Japan and the United States. On the other hand, India has slipped into 8th position for economic relationships, as it falls further behind in regional trade integration efforts.

India exerts less influence in the region than expected given its available resources, as indicated by the country's negative power gap score. Its negative power gap score has deteriorated further in 2021 relative to previous years.