New Delhi, Nov 21: India has been ranked third in terms of human capital resources, practices and developments among 12 Asia-Pacific countries, according to global management consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

"In terms of a composite score of all the participating companies, India ranks third after Australia and New Zealand," Watson Wyatt managing consultant Paul Loof told a news confernce releasing the Human Capital Index (HCI) here. Over 500 companies, including 119 firms from India participated in the consultancy firm's first ever Asia-Pacific HCI survey, spanning 12 countries in the region, sans Japan.

However, for India there was little reason for cheer since 88 of the Indian companies had an HCI score below 75 which did not bode well for their average growth in shareholder value, he said. The study indicated a clear relationship between effective people management and shareholder value creation, he said.

The study has identified 41 people practices, grouped into five different dimensions, which could increase a firm's shareholder value by 78.7 per cent when put into practice, he said, adding wrong practices could collectively erode 15 per cent of shareholder value. Over 79 per cent of the 119 participating Indian companies were from manufacturing sector, nine per cent from it, 11 per cent from other services and 10 per cent from engineering.

Bureau Report