Team Blitz India
MUMBAI: India’s nominal gross domestic product will likely outstrip Japan’s in 2025 to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, according to an International Monetary Fund estimate, a year earlier than the previous projection.
India’s GDP will likely total $4.3398 trillion in 2025, compared with Japan’s $4.3103 trillion, the IMF said in its latest estimate.
The IMF’s forecast in October had India surpassing Japan in 2026. In its April update, the IMF revised GDP forecasts for both countries slightly in local currency terms, but the depreciation of the Japanese yen looks to reduce Japan’s economy in dollar terms, hastening the country’s decline in the rankings.
Japan’s GDP was eclipsed by Germany in 2023. If it is overtaken by India, it will drop to fifth place. The Indian rupee has largely remained flat against the dollar since the beginning of 2023. It stands at about 83 rupees per dollar at present.
India’s nominal GDP was the 10th largest in the world as of 2014. India overtook Japan in domestic automobile sales in 2022 to become the world’s thirdlargest market after China and the United States.
Although the country suffered an economic slump during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has recorded high growth in recent years, driven by a rising population. The Reserve Bank of India expects GDP to grow 7 per cent in real terms in fiscal 2024.
Although India’s middle class is expanding, nominal GDP per capita is only in the mid-$2,000 range. This is about a fifth the level of China and close to that of Bangladesh.
