The report also said that, “India is the lowest performing country among the BRICS nations in all categories of the HDI with the exception of life expectancy, which is lower in South Africa as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.” It is also true that as the HDI reflects long-term progress of human lives in dimentions like dimensions like a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living, but according to the new list the human development index is linked closely to income.

The report further showed that the richest countries had the best HDI, and the poorest had the worst HDI. Only 10 countries with a lower per capita income than India had abetter index; and four countries with higher income had a lower index. Thus this shows that incomes and human development tend to go together. Country like Bangladesh also showed a rapid improvement in their index even though it is ranked way lower to India.

Presenting a review of India’s progress in each of the HDI indicators between 1980 and 2013, it is said, “The life expectancy at birth increased by 11 years, mean years of schooling increased by 2.5 years and expected years of schooling increased by 5.3 years.” Looking at the current rate of progress on human development, India may take some 15 years to reach where China is today, (in the High development category, with an index of 0.719).