Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India has become the fourth-largest economy in the world, surpassing Japan.
“Today we have become the fourth largest economy in the world. Anyone will be satisfied that we have now left Japan behind and moved ahead,” Modi said while speaking at a public gathering in Gandhinagar.
The Prime Minister’s remark came days after NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam announced that India’s economy had reached the $4 trillion mark and surpassed Japan to become the fourth largest economy in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP).
However, NITI Aayog member Arvind Virmani has clarified that India would overtake Japan by the end of 2025 to become the fourth largest economy.
As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook released in April 2025, India’s GDP in nominal terms is projected to grow to $4.187 trillion by the end of 2025, marginally higher than Japan’s $4.186 trillion.
The Prime Minister’s remarks indicate that now only the US, China and Germany are bigger economies than India.
India overtook the United Kingdom in 2022 to become the fifth largest economy.
Modi said that when India became the fifth largest economy surpassing the UK there were different kinds of enthusiasm in the country and excitement, especially among the youth.
“The reason was that India had overtaken the UK, the very nation that ruled over us for 250 years,” he added.
Modi underlined that India was the 11th largest economy in the world when he took charge as the PM in
May 2014.
“On 26th May 2014, I took the oath as the Prime Minister for the first time. At that time, India’s economy was at the 11th position. Today, India has become the world’s fourth-largest economy,” he said.
India’s nominal GDP has doubled since 2014, when it stood at $2.04 trillion. It rose to $3.90 trillion in 2024 and projected to increase to $4.187 trillion in 2025, as per IMF data.
Japan, which was the third largest economy in 2014 has now slipped to the fifth position. Germany has strengthened its position from the fourth largest in 2014 to the third largest now.
As per the IMF, Germany’s GDP is pegged at $4.74 trillion in 2025. India is projected to leave behind Germany in the next couple of years to occupy the third position in terms of the size of the economy.
The other two economies are far ahead. The size of the world’s largest economy, the United States, is projected to cross $30 trillion this year, while the size of China’s economy is pegged at $19.23 trillion.