India has ranked 48th in the 2008 IT industry competitiveness index, a study has said.

India has an overall score of 28.9 on the IT competitive index as per the study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, business information arm of the Economist group.

In Asia, India rated ahead of China at number 11.

The study now in its second year, assesses and compares the IT industry environments of 66 countries to determine the extent to which they enable IT sector competitiveness.

Although ranking of 20 economies remained the same compared with a year ago, three new countries moved to the top five slot -- Taiwan, Sweden and Denmark. In terms of ranking in Asia Pacific, Taiwan led followed by Australia, South Korea, Singapore and Japan.

The key attributes of a country in analyzing its environment for the IT sector was ample supply of skills, innovation friendly culture, world-class technology and infrastructure, protection and enforcement of IPRS, open competitive economy and government support.

The study revealed that India performed best in business environment and support for IT industry development with a score of 59.3 per cent and 54 per cent. Areas of improvement include IT infrastructure and R & D environment in the country, which are relatively low in the IT industry competitive index.