6th largest economy, India beats France

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 11

India has surpassed France to become the world’s sixth-biggest economy, an AFP report said on Wednesday, quoting updated World Bank figures for 2017. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s largest democracy was $2.597 trillion at the end of last year compared with France’s $2.582 trillion, it said.

However, in terms of per capita GDP, France is much ahead of India  — the second most populous country in the world after China. India’s population is over 130 crore as compared to around 6.7 crore of France.

According to the report, the US is the biggest economy, followed by China, Japan, Germany, UK and India.

A spokesperson for the World Bank in India could not vouch for the accuracy of the updated figures quoted by AFP from Paris. “The World Bank has not issued any official statement,” she told The Tribune.  

The Indian economy is on a recovery path after twin disruptions — the demonetisation that took place in November 2016 and the hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July last year. As a result of the double whammy, the country’s GDP rate had slumped to a three-year low at 5.7 per cent in the quarter ending June last year.