India beats France

6th largest economy

India has surpassed France to become the world’s sixth-biggest economy, World Bank figures for 2017 say.  The gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s largest democracy was $2.597 trillion at the end of last year compared with France’s $2.582 trillion, it said.

However, in terms of per capita GDP, France is much ahead of India  — the second most populous country in the world after China. India’s population is over 130 crore as compared to around 6.7 crore of France.

According to the report, the US is the biggest economy, followed by China, Japan, Germany, UK and India.

The Indian economy is on a recovery path after twin disruptions — the demonetisation that took place in November 2016 and the hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July last year. As a result of the double whammy, the country’s GDP rate had slumped to a three-year low at 5.7 per cent in the quarter ending June last year.

the World Bank noted that the Indian economy has benefitted from robust performances in manufacturing sector driven by increased consumer spending. Overall, India has made rapid progress, doubling its GDP in less than past decade and emerging as the engine of economic growth in Asia, especially with the Chinese economy showing definite signs of lethargy.

The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook report expects China to decelerate from 6.6 per cent in the current year to 6.4 per cent in 2019, while India is expected to post growth rates of 7.4 per cent and 7.8 per cent in the same time frame. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to take GDP growth to double digits while speaking at the Niti Aayog’s fourth Governing Council last month.