India to become World’s fifth largest economy in 2019: Arun Jaitley

India to become world’s fifth largest economy in 2019 and will be inducted in top three in the coming years, said finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday. Currently, India is World’s largest six economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 2.59 trillion, surpassing France in the year 2017.

On November 2, speaking at the ‘Support and Outreach Initiative for the MSME sector’ event in New Delhi, finance minister said that since Narendra Modi government came to power, India has significantly moved from the ninth to sixth position in the global economic landscape.

Hoping to get more better position, he said, “Next year, India will become the fifth largest economy.” He added, “hoping in the coming years the country would be among the top three economies of the world.”

He said that India is likely to go past the United Kingdom, which is at the fifth position, according to an analysis of data compiled by the World Bank. The United Kingdom, which has been facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of USD 2.62 trillion, which is about USD 25 billion more than that of India, the data showed.

Notably, the US is the world’s largest economy having USD 19.39 trillion, followed by China (USD 12.23 trillion). Japan (USD 4.87 trillion) and Germany (USD 3.67 trillion) are at the third and fourth places, respectively.

Referring to India’s significant jump in the latest World Bank’s ease of doing business index, Jaitley said that it has improved 65 notches to the 77th position during the four years of the NDA government.

Reminding Prime Minister Modi’s target, he said that PM Modi has set a target of taking India among the top 50 nations in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking.

“We are very near the target,” Jaitley said, as he criticised the Congress-led UPA government for “policy paralysis” and “corruption”, which discouraged domestic as well as foreign investors.

In the last five years of the UPA government, inflation averaged around 10.4 per cent, whereas all economic parameters are now stable, he added.

Jaitley further said that Aadhaar, which was criticised by the opposition, has actually helped the government in saving Rs 90,000 crore annually, which is enough to fund four schemes like Ayushman Bharat.

Also read: World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking: India jumps 23 places to 77th