In the profitability index, the country is way ahead of China, U.S. In the 2014 index, India was at the sixth position.

A ranking of destinations for attractiveness to foreign investors has placed India at the top among 110 countries. China has secured the 65th position and the U.S. is at the 50th. In the 2014 index, India was at the sixth position and Hong Kong was number one.

The ranking is based on an index for baseline profitability that assumes that three factors affect the ultimate success of a foreign investment: how much the value of an asset grows; the preservation of that value while the asset is owned; and the ease of repatriation of proceeds from selling the asset. The index combines measures for each of these factors into a summary statistic that conveys a country’s basic attractiveness for investment.

Investment guidance



“Where exactly should they [investors] put their money? The Baseline Profitability Index (BPI) is back for its third year with some answers, and Narendra Modi’s India is the place to start,” wrote Daniel Altman, creator of the index and an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, in the Foreign Policy magazine.

“...economic growth alone doesn’t determine the returns to investing abroad; you have to worry about things like financial stability, physical security, corruption, expropriation by government, exploitation by local partners, capital controls, and exchange rates as well. Putting all of these factors together gives a better idea of how big the return will be when it finally reaches your pocket,” he wrote.

The big story in the BPI in 2015 is “India coming out on top, with growth forecasts up, perceptions of corruption down, and investors better protected following the election of a government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

High returns



A high ranking indicates high returns and improving economic institutions. The index, thus, compares how local policies and conditions affect the same investment in different countries. Or how the value of the principal and the return will change depending only on where the investment is made.

Local factors can erode profits. These include payment of bribes and kickbacks, the risk of which is compared across countries using the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, a measure for the perceived levels of public-sector corruption worldwide. In 2014, the country was at the 85th position out of 175 countries as compared to its ranking of 94 out of 177 in 2013.

World Bank index



BPI calculation also uses an index of investor protection compiled by the World Bank. In 2014, the average BPI score across all countries was 0.99; this year it is 1.03 — meaning the expected returns over the next five years are about three-quarters of a per cent higher a year.

The calculation of the BPI is an imperfect exercise fraught with assumptions, Mr. Altman says.

“For example, how does a survey about perceptions of corruption translate into likelihoods of having to pay bribes, and how big might those bribes be?” he wrote when he first introduced the index.

Lower rank in Corruption Index helped India

India came first in the Baseline Profitability Index helped by its improved ranking in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index — in 2014, the country was at the 85th position out of 175 countries as compared to its ranking of 94 out of 177 countries in 2013.

The calculation of the BPI is an imperfect exercise fraught with assumptions, Daniel Altman, its creator, says. “For example, how does a survey about perceptions of corruption translate into likelihoods of having to pay bribes, and how big might those bribes be?” he wrote when he first introduced the index.

In 2014, the average BPI score across all countries was 0.99; this year it is 1.03 — meaning the expected returns over the next five years are about three-quarters of a per cent higher a year.

(With additional reporting by Stanly Johny)