Can India digitally leap-frog ahead?

Last year in October, the Prime Minister declared that in the last eight years, India has leaped from the eighth spot in terms of economic size to the fifth spot.

In fact, if we look back a little further, to 2010, the country was at the 9th place. So, yes, the rise has been swift and steady.

Of course if we go back still further, to the 17th century, India was at a completely different economic place. Various sources report that the country accounted for around 25% of world GDP. But all that is now history and what could be the moot question is: From where we are right now, how long will it take for India to become the largest economy in the world?

First, let’s take the conventional route, which makes predictions based on current data and past trends. The IMF predicts that the Japanese and German economies will grow to $5.2 trillion and $4.9 trillion each by 2027 while India is expected to grow to $5.4 trillion, at current prices. At the same time, by 2027, the Chinese and US economies are likely to grow to $26.44 trillion and $30.28 trillion, respectively. So that’s still a significant gap.