IND · snapshot 2026-08-09

India

High

Overall risk score

53.1

Percentile of scored universe

61th

Data coverage

97%

vs Australia (16.1)

+37.0

Category breakdown

Political Stability & Governance

High
61.1+48.3 vs AU

6 indicators · 100% coverage

Economic Resilience

High
44.0+32.9 vs AU

7 indicators · 100% coverage

Financial & Currency Risk

Medium
33.3+27.4 vs AU

5 indicators · 100% coverage

Business Environment

High
54.5+19.6 vs AU

3 indicators · 75% coverage

Security & Crime

High
60.3+35.2 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Climate & Social Compliance

Very High
73.1+62.7 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Technology & Digital

High
52.5+38.8 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Cultural Distance

Medium
48.3+47.5 vs AU

9 indicators · 100% coverage · not in overall score

Key risks and considerations

India rates High for market entry — an overall risk score of 53.1, riskier than 61% of rated economies and 37 points riskier than Australia.

The main risk drivers are no investment-treaty protection with Australia, high natural-disaster risk, political instability, heavy public debt (net 84.1% of GDP) and high modern-slavery prevalence (8.0 per 1,000).

Relative strengths: FX reserves, current account, currency stability all rate Low, the least-risky rating band.

Possible mitigations

  • Getting money out. Confirm profit-repatriation channels before committing capital: seek central-bank pre-approvals where required, consider an export-first model over an in-country entity, and structure via clear remittance jurisdictions.
  • Modern slavery compliance. Elevated modern-slavery risk: apply enhanced supply-chain due diligence and document it — Australian Modern Slavery Act reporting will expect exactly this analysis.
  • Disaster resilience. High natural-hazard exposure: build business-continuity plans, check insurance availability (including parametric covers), and avoid single-point supply dependencies.
  • Payment fraud. Experts nominate this market as a cybercrime origin (World Cybercrime Index, 2021 survey): verify any change of bank details out-of-band, enforce MFA and dual authorisation on payments, and be sceptical of unsolicited counterparties.
  • Cultural bridging. Large cultural distance: invest in local partners, bilingual advisers, and longer relationship-building timelines — assume negotiation and management norms differ materially.

Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.

Indicators

IndicatorValueRisk scoreRating
Political Stability & Governance
Voice & accountability (WGI)55.550.5High
Government effectiveness (WGI)59.234.9Medium
Regulatory quality (WGI)53.350.5High
Rule of law (WGI)56.348.1Medium
Control of corruption (WGI)41.955.3High
Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV)52.580.9Very High
Economic Resilience
GDP growth (3-yr average, %)7.3% (3-yr avg)40.0Medium
Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp)±4.4 pp66.1High
Government net debt (% of GDP)84.180.0Very High
Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target)2.435.0Medium
Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP)-0.7% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
FX reserves (months of import cover)7.9 months10.0Low
GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $)$11,74868.1High
Financial & Currency Risk
Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN)0.1678.0Very High
Currency stability (regime-aware classification)Floating — low volatility (<8%)15.0Low
Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification)Category 3 / 728.0Medium
FATF listing (grey / black list status)Not listed0.0Low
Double-tax agreement with AustraliaIn force0.0Low
Business Environment
FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI)0.2264.2High
Logistics performance (World Bank LPI)3.427.9Medium
Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average)Insufficient data
Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter)None in force100.0Very High
Security & Crime
Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr)0.071.7High
Intentional homicide rate (per 100k)2.856.9High
Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score)5.969.8High
DFAT Smartraveller advisory levelLevel 2 — Exercise a high degree of caution40.0Medium
Climate & Social Compliance
Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability)0.47561.8High
Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index)5.583.0Very High
Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000)8.079.1Very High
Modern-slavery vulnerability score56.064.7High
Technology & Digital
E-government development (UN EGDI)0.750.0High
Internet users (% of population)70.066.4High
Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index)6.145.0Medium
Secure internet servers (per million people)1212.448.1Medium

Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.

Cultural distance

GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score

IndiaAustraliaGLOBE practice score · scale 1–7
Power distanceHigh
5.47
4.74
Uncertainty avoidanceMedium
4.15
4.39
Institutional collectivismLow
4.38
4.29
In-group collectivismVery High
5.92
4.17
Humane orientationMedium
4.57
4.28
Performance orientationLow
4.25
4.36
AssertivenessVery High
3.73
4.28
Gender egalitarianismVery High
2.90
3.40
Future orientationLow
4.19
4.09

Context — not scored

Unemployment

4.2%

Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)

Trade agreement

Free trade agreement with Australia in force

Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.

Regional advisories

Higher levels apply in some areas (up to Level 4)

DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.

Compare with

A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to India in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.

All 218 economies · How to read these ratings