As stated by Bloomberg, Britain has dropped behind India to become the world’s 6th largest economy. To become the 5th biggest economy, India toppled the UK from its position in the final 3 months of 2021. The calculation is done according to US dollars and India widened its lead in the first quarter.
As the London government grapples with a brutal cost-of-living shock, this news comes as a further blow. The IMF’s own predictions show India overtaking the UK in dollar terms on an annual basis in 2022, putting the Asian powerhouse behind just the US, China, Japan and Germany. Ten years ago, India ranked 11th among the largest economies, while the UK was 5th.
The UK’s decline down the international rankings is an unsupportive backdrop for the new prime minister. The Indian economy is forecast to grow more than 7% this year. A world-beating rebound in Indian stocks, trailing only China’s. The calculations were done using the IMF database and historic exchange rates on the Bloomberg terminal.
The UK seems to have fallen further since. UK GDP grew just 1% in cash terms in the second quarter and, after adjusting for inflation, shrank 0.1%. Sterling has also underperformed the dollar relative to the rupee, with the pound falling 8% against the Indian currency in 2022.