Even as India prides in its expertise in information and communication technology (ICT) after becoming a major hub for outsourcing, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked it a poor 39 in its latest report on the sector.

By contrast, Singapore has moved a notch to occupy the top slot in the Networked Readiness Index for 2004-05, published with the Global Information Technology Report of the Davos-based group. Singapore displaces the US, now ranked fifth.

A consolation for India is that it has made a marked improvement over its previous year's ranking and is ahead of China.

"India and China significantly improve their positions climbing to number 39 and 41, compared to 45 and 51 in 2003-04, respectively," said the report co-authored by Soumitra Dutta and WEF director Augusto Lopez-Claros.

"A comparison of the Networked Readiness Index scores over the last four years confirms last year's trend of a narrowing digital divide between most developed and the least developed economies," the report said.

The report's fourth edition covers 104 economies worldwide and makes an assessment of the impact of ICT on the development and competitiveness of nations.

The report consists of three main parts - analytical studies related to aspects of ICT development, detailed country profiles and data tables with rankings for each country based on the variable.

The main index of the report measures the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by ICT and establishes a broad international framework mapping out the enabling factors of such capacity.

The report places Singapore as the best performer in several categories like quality of maths and science education, affordability of phone connections and procurement and prioritisation by the government.

Among other countries in South Asia, Pakistan improved its position from 76 to 63, but Sri Lanka slipped from 66 to 71, while Bangladesh was virtually at the bottom of the ranking at 100, six notches below its previous year's rank of 93.

Apart from Singapore that is ranked first and the US that occupies the fifth slot, the other countries ranked between second and tenth positions are Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and Canada.