India to rank fourth in world GDP in March 2027, chief economic advisor predicts

[New Delhi Jiji] Nageswaran, the chief economic advisor to the Indian government, who plays an important role in economic policy, gave an exclusive interview to Jiji Press on the 6th. Although the originally predicted reversal in nominal GDP (gross domestic product) with Japan in 2026 has not materialized, it is expected that by the end of March 2027, Japan will overtake Japan and rise to fourth place in the world, behind the United States, China, and Germany.

Regarding the strengths of the Indian economy, it achieved growth of 7.8% from the same period of the previous year in the April-June period of 2026, and said, ``It cannot be said that there are many weaknesses.'' He was proud that, compared to Western countries, ``India has achieved better results in job creation and income expansion.'' On the other hand, he also mentioned that the problem of unemployment among young people is more pronounced among women in urban areas, and that improvement is slow.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that India would surpass Japan in terms of nominal GDP in 2025 and 2026. However, the forecast for the reversal was later pushed back to 2027. Mr. Nageswaran pointed out that the primary reason for this was that when the Indian Bureau of Statistics revised the base year for GDP, it reduced the scale of GDP. "This is evidence that the change in methodology is not being used as an excuse to inflate the numbers," he said.