Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that India will become the third-largest economy in the world no matter who becomes the Prime Minister. He said India would achieve this feat given the size of its population, and there was “no magic” involved in it. He, however, did not state by when he expects India to progress to the coveted third place in the global ranking.
“Narendra Modi is a master of exaggeration. He is turning an arithmetical inevitability into a guarantee. It is inevitable that India will become the third largest economy in the world (in terms of GDP),” Chidambaram said in an interview with PTI.
“In 2004, India’s GDP was at the 12th place. In 2014, it rose to the seventh place. In 2024, it was the fifth largest. No matter who the prime minister is, the GDP will become the third largest in the world. There is no magic in it. It is an arithmetic inevitability given the size of our population.”
Chidambaram, however, asserted that the size of the GDP of a country is not the true measure of the prosperity of its people and stressed that per capita income is a more accurate indicator. “In my view, rather than GDP, per capita income is the true measure of prosperity. But India ranks very low on that global yardstick,” he said.
As per 2024 estimates of the International Monetary Fund, India, with its $2,731 per capita GDP, has a global rank of 136. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his rallies, has “guaranteed” the people of the country that he would make India the third largest economy, two notches higher than its current position if he gets a third consecutive term.
According to the World Economy Rankings 2024, India, with a GDP of $4.8 trillion, is preceded by the United States, China and Japan while currently standing neck and neck with Germany.
(With inputs from PTI)