New Delhi, Nov. 5: Skill development, economic inclusion and gender are expected to dominate the deliberations at the three-day India Economic Summit, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday.

“The programme for this year’s summit will lead to concrete recommendations for addressing key challenges such as skill development, financial empowerment of the poor and the development of female talent,” said Sushant Palakurthi Rao, director and head of Asia at the World Economic Forum.

The WEF will be celebrating 25 years of its engagement with India at the summit, which is jointly organised by the forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Meanwhile, the CII and global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers have released the Global Competitive Index. India is ranked 49th among 133 countries. It is strong in business sophistication, innovation and financial market sophistication.

“While the Indian economy registered a 6.7 growth outshining the developed economies and many emerging economies during the year of global economic and financial crisis, the need for further reforms and a drive to be a globally competitive economy cannot be under-emphasised,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the CII.