New Delhi: India has slipped one notch in the World Bank’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rankings in 2018, and is now the seventh-largest economy with the United Kingdom and France ahead of India, data from the international lending institution said.
In 2018, India’s GDP was $2.72 trillion, while that of the United Kingdom was $2.82 trillion and France was $2.77 trillion. The world’s top four economies in the World Bank list in 2018 were the United States, with a GDP of $20.5 trillion, followed by China ($13.6 trillion), Japan ($4.9 trillion) and Germany ($3.9 trillion).
The data comes at a time when India has set the target of becoming a $5 trillion economy in GDP terms by 2024, and a $3 trillion economy in the current financial year.
In 2017, India had overtaken France as the sixth largest economy. According to news reports, India had also overtaken the United Kingdom for a short while.
In 2017, India’s GDP was $2.65 trillion, the UK’s was $2.64 trillion and France was at $2.59 trillion. But the UK and France seem to have overtaken India again in 2018.
Earlier this year, India lost the fastest growing economy tag, falling behind China. The country grew at its slowest pace in five years at 5.8% during January-March quarter in financial year 2018-19. Growth during 2018-19 declined to 6.8% from 7.2% a year ago.
Currency fluctuations and a slowdown in GDP growth were the key reasons behind the fall in global GDP rankings, said D.K. Srivastava, chief policy adviser at E&Y. “The main reason is that the (GDP) growth slowed down last year and there are clear signs of continuity in the slowdown. India’s exports have also fallen and remained negative. Domestic demand is subdued. A significant fiscal stimulus is needed right now to revive growth."
