India has been the fastest growing major economy in the world for the last ten years, with the latest data from the International Monetary Fund or IMF showing a staggering 105 per cent growth in the last decade.
According to the IMF, India’s GDP currently stands at $4.3 trillion. It was $2.1 trillion in 2015, when Narendra Modi’s first term as prime minister was less than a year in office. Since then, India has more than doubled its economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product or GDP.
India is on the cusp of overtaking Japan as the fourth-largest economy in the world. Japan’s GDP currently stand at $4.4 trillion and India is poised to go past that mark by the third quarter of 2025. Should the average rate of growth continue the way it is, India will surpass Germany – the 3rd-largest economy globally – by the 2nd quarter of in 2027. Germany’s GDP currently stands at $4.9 trillion.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called India’s 10-year economic performance “outstanding”, hailing the country for doubling its GDP in a decade. Mr Goyal highlighted that India, which has topped the world with a growth rate of 105 per cent in 10 years, has outperformed other major economies like China (76 per cent), USA (66 per cent), Germany (44 per cent), France (38 per cent) and UK (28 per cent).
India has outpaced all the nations in the G7, the G20, and the BRICS by more than doubling its size of economy.
“The global shift is real! PM Narendra Modi-ji has led India to double its GDP in the last decade, positioning it to become the third-largest economy globally soon,” Mr Goyal said.
‘THE BIG TWO’
While India topped the list in terms of pace of growth, the top two spots in terms of size of economy remained the United States ($30.3 trillion) and China ($19.5 trillion). Germany is in third place at $4.9 trillion, Japan in fourth at $4.4 trillion, and India at fifth at $4.3 trillion.
Breaking into the top two places will take India little over two decades at its current rate of growth. Though, it is interesting to note that as of March, 2025, US’s national debt stands at $36.22 trillion, while China’s national debt as of September, 2024 stands at $2.52 trillion. In comparison, India’s overall debt as of September, 2024 stands at $712 billion.
INDIA’S GROWTH TRAJECTORY
India took 60 years for its GDP to reach the first trillion-dollar mark (in 2007). From $1 trillion to $2 trillion took 7 years (in 2014), Despite COVID-19, India reached the $3 trillion mark in 2021. The journey from $3 trillion to $4 trillion took just 4 years.
At this pace, should the progression continue the way it is, India is poised to add a trillion dollars to its GDP every 1.5 years, and could likely become a $10 trillion economy by end of 2032.
(Disclaimer: Data for this article is as per the data available on the IMF website)