India overtakes Japan to become 4th largest economy: NITI Aayog

NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) BVR Subrahmanyam has said that India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, citing data by the International Monetary Fund.

Addressing a press conference of the 10th NITI Aayog Governing Council Meeting on ‘Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat 2047’, Subrahmanyam said India’s economy has reached the USD 4 trillion mark.

“We are the fourth largest economy as I speak. We are a USD 4 trillion economy as I speak, and this is not my data. This is IMF data. India today is larger than Japan. It’s only the United States, China, and Germany which are larger, and if we stick to, you know, what is being planned, what is being thought through, it’s a matter of another two to three years that we would become the third largest economy," said BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog.

According to the IMF’s April edition of the World Economic Outlook report, the nominal GDP for fiscal 2026 is expected to reach around USD 4,187.017 billion. This is marginally more than the likely GDP of Japan, which is estimated at USD 4,186.431 billion.

India was the fifth largest economy in the world till 2024.

The global financial body projects that India will remain the fastest-growing major economy over the next two years. India’s economy is expected to grow by 6.2 per cent in 2025 and 6.3 per cent in 2026, maintaining a solid lead over global and regional peers, the April 2025 edition of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook added.

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