A study on the factors affecting international trade competitiveness

In this study, an attempt has been made to examine export competitiveness at global level for 85 countries and position of India in world based on 12 indicators of export competitiveness-. ratio of trade balance to GDP (TB/GDP), ratio of exports to imports (X/M), ratio of trade balance to total trade (TB/TT), Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), share of manufactured exports in merchandise exports (M_x/X), share of other manufactured goods in total exports (OM_x/X), Share of Machinery & Transport Equipments in total exports (MT_x/X), share in world merchandise exports (X/WX), intra industry trade (IIT) and share of chemicals in total exports (C_x/X), share of exports in total GDP (X/GDP) and share of trade in total GDP (T/GDP). The paper analyses export competitiveness for 85 countries by applying factor analysis technique for two points of time 1995 and 2015. The paper found that China is the most competitive country of 85 countries considered in 2015. The paper also found that position of India in world could not improve and its rank deteriorated from 23^rd in 1995 to 33^rd in 2015.