Indian economy

Include index.

In terms of GDP, India is presently the fifth largest economy in the world behind USA, China, Germany and Japan. It is likely to surpass Japan to become the fourth largest economy in a few months from now, and then overtake Germany in about three years time to become the third largest economy in the world. Then onwards, the order is likely to remain unchanged for a long period of time, with USA continuing to be the largest economy, followed by China and then by India. However, in terms of per capita income, India is likely to remain considerably behind advanced countries as is clear from the fact that its GNI per capita was only $2,540 in 2023 against the GNI per capita of $48,224 of the high income economies, and GNI per capita of $10,588 of upper middle income economies. Although the Prime Minister has laid down the goal of making India a high income economy by 2047, that is the 100th year of Indian Independence, the goal is not likely to be achieved. India is likely to remain a lower middle income economy, and will have to struggle hard to become an upper middle income economy. Moreover, it will also have to intensify its efforts to achieve the 17 goals and associated 169 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), part of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted in 2015 as now only six years remain to meet the targets (the 2015 Agenda has laid down the target of meeting the goals by the year 2030. In the present updated and revised edition of our book, we consider all issues related to India’s development and pointedly bring out the need for an effective policy to increase employment, reduce income inequalities, improve education and health facilities, and reduce regional disparities.