New enterprises in India created 17 million jobs in 2003, which was the second highest in the world after China where 84 million jobs were created by new businesses, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report of the London School of Business.

The report says entrepreneurship in India rose marginally in 2003 over the previous year.

Nearly 18 per cent of India's population in the age group of 18- 64 is engaged in some sort of entrepreneurial activity.

In the 2002 edition of the report, India was ranked second, behind Thailand, but this year it has slipped to the seventh slot, behind new entrants like Uganda and Venezuela.

But it still remains much above the global enterprise average of 10 per cent. Among the developed countries only the US has an entrepreneurial base of above 10 per cent of its working population.

The numbers for countries like Germany, Japan and France hover around 5 per cent. China also lags behind India on this count with 12.5 per cent entrepreneurs in the specified age group.

The study, carried out by the London School of Business and Babsons College, United Kingdom, surveys 40 countries, which account for over 60 per cent of the world's population and 70 per cent of its output.