India Becomes The Fifth Largest Economy Of The World

Team RLA

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According to a recent report released by Bloomberg based on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) database, on September 3, 2022, India surpassed the United Kingdom (UK) to become the fifth largest economy in the world and is now just behind US, China, Japan and Germany in terms of size of dollars. The Indian economy is the fastest growing economy of the world and is further forecasted to grow more than 7% this year as well. The milestone was birthed due to the collective efforts of various factors like strong macroeconomic indicators, rapid digitisation, strong domestic market, ease of doing business and privatisation of crucial sectors like defence (as per the Economic Survey 2021-22) ¹.
The achievement comes at a noteworthy time of India completing 75 years of independence. This growth trajectory holds paramount significance for India in the arenas of geopolitics and geo-economics as –

• India is well poised to get better trade deals from ongoing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) with various countries like the UAE, Australia, Bangladesh, etc. This is because we have a large domestic market, a well-trained workforce and a vibrant diaspora around the globe. India’s democratic credentials will also fetch most of the FDI from the western world.
• The importance of Indo Pacific region can’t be undermined and India sits at one of the most important trade routes where 46% of world trade flows. This allows India to effectively work on its goal of becoming the ‘Blue Water Force’, envisioned by the Government of India to become a part of the world’s most powerful navies — those that can operate in deep, faraway oceans. As India’s trade will thrive on the shores, it will also balance China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
• India has major defence deals with various countries – Rafale from France, BrahMos with Russia, talks of setting up production units of our indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas with Egypt, etc. A series of such high-level engagements are also set to take place with many other countries like Malaysia, the Phillipines, etc.
• India is being approached to participate in close groupings like the QUAD and I2U2 which are aligned with the vision of minilateralism. The relevance of bigger organisations like the United Nations (UN) and G20 is lessening proactively due to their rigidity.
• India’s strategic autonomy will assure that Russia does not become a junior partner to China and lead the world into block confrontation once again, says the Veteran ex-army from Carnegie, Moscow.²
• India has called for fair and equal representation of Least Developed Countries (LDC) in multilateral organizations like the UN, thus earning goodwill among those counties. Being the largest democracy and fifth largest economy brings India closer to the world and reinstates India’s position as a visionary global leader who believes in collective growth and development.

The whole world is celebrating India’s achievement but China. Chinese journalists have constantly been trying to mock India by using ill-willed words to describe India’s growth on social media handles like Twitter³. China’s jealousy goes hand in hand with India’s development. India’s vision, however, is much greater than this and the world shall soon find India on the top contenders in the list of the world’s largest economies.

References:

1-https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1793829

2- https://youtu.be/PuqD8rERSs8 (37:00 – 39:00)

3- https://twitter.com/HuXijin_GT/status/1566248728633044992?t=uD6e935ZD1sNWGr8j9zBQg&s=19