India has been ranked a low 97th out of 144 nations, behind Kazakhstan and Ghana, on Forbes' annual list of the best countries for doing business in 2015, scoring poorly on metrics like trade and monetary freedom and tackling challenges like corruption and violence.


Denmark topped the list of the 144 nations on the Best Countries of Business in 2015 list by Forbes.


The US has dropped four spots to number 22, continuing a six-year descent since 2009 when it had ranked second overall. The US is the financial capital of the world and its largest economy at USD 17.4 trillion (China is second at USD 10.4 trillion), but it scores poorly on monetary freedom and bureaucracy/red tape, Forbes said. India is ranked 97th on the list, with Forbes saying that while the country is developing into an open-market economy, traces of its "past autarkic policies" remain.