India is world’s 6th largest economy, surpasses France
NEW DELHI: India emerged as the world’s sixth largest economy in 2017 surpassing France and likely to go past the United Kingdom, which is at the fifth position, according to an analysis of data compiled by the World Bank.
In 2017, India became the sixth largest economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 2.59 trillion, relegating France to the seventh position.
As per the data, the GDP of France stood at USD 2.58 trillion.
The United Kingdom, which is facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of USD 2.62 trillion, which is about USD 25 billion more than that of India, the data showed.
The US is the world’s largest economy with a size of USD 19.39 trillion, followed by China (USD 12.23 trillion) in the second place.
Japan (USD 4.87 trillion) and Germany (USD 3.67 trillion) are at the third and fourth places, respectively.
NEWE DELHI: India has become the world's sixth-biggest economy, pushing France into seventh place, according to updated World Bank figures for 2017.
India's gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to $2.597 trillion at the end of last year, against $2.582 trillion for France.
India's economy rebounded strongly from July 2017, after several quarters of slowdown blamed on economic policies pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
India, with around 1.34 billion inhabitants, is poised to become the world's most populous nation, whereas the French population stands at 67 million.
This means that India's per capita GDP continues to amount to just a fraction of that of France which is still roughly 20 times higher, according to World Bank figures.
Manufacturing and consumer spending were the main drivers of the Indian economy last year, after a slowdown blamed on the de-monetisation of large banknotes that Modi imposed at the end of 2016, as well as a chaotic implementation of a new harmonised VAT regime.
India has doubled its GDP within a decade and is expected to power ahead as a key economic engine in Asia, even as China slows down. According to the International Monetary Fund, India is projected to generate growth of 7.4 percent this year and 7.8 percent in 2019, boosted by household spending and a tax reform.
This compares to the world's expected average growth of 3.9 percent.
The London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research, a consultancy, said at the end of last year that India would overtake both Britain and France this year in terms of GDP, and had a good chance to become the world's third-biggest economy by 2032.
At the end of 2017, Britain was still the world's fifth-biggest economy with a GDP of $2.622 trillion.
The US is the world's top economy, followed by China, Japan and Germany.
Meanwhile, China joined the world's top 20 most innovative economies for the first time while the United States fell out of the five top-ranked countries, according to a report released by one of its co-sponsors, the UN intellectual property agency.
The Global Innovation Index 2018 keeps Switzerland in the No. 1 spot, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and Singapore. The United States fell from fourth place in 2017 to sixth this year, while China jumped from 22nd to 17th in the rankings.
Francis Gurry, director general of the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation, said China's ranking represents a breakthrough for its economy, which is rapidly transforming and prioritizing research and ingenuity.