India will be 3rd largest economy in Modi govt’s 3rd term: FM

India is poised to become the 3rd largest economy globally, and its rise from 10th rank under UPA to 5th now shows the Modi government's dedication towards a "developed India" goal, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The finance minister, speaking during 'Viksit Bharat Ambassador - Campus Dialogue' in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh today, says India's economy thrived under PM Modi's leadership, and that it is the government's efforts that'll propel it to the spot of "third largest economy".

“India was in the 12th place when Mr Vajpayee's term ended, and the UPA government was formed. From 2004 to 2014, it reached 10th rank in 10 years. And mind you, in the 10 years, except for the global financial crisis which happened in 2008-09, which was not like the pandemic that happened in 2020. Despite that today, from the 10th rank, India has come to the 5th rank," Sithraman says.

She says when the PM says that by 2047, India should become a “developed” economy, he also means in his government’s third term, India will become the third largest economy. “Because in 2014, when he became the PM, India was at the 10th largest economy position...today we reached the 5th rank. From the 5th rank in the next few years, the PM says, we will reach the third," she opined.

Making a poll pitch during her address, the FM says India needs a stable government and it needs growth. “That is the goal to achieve a vision of Viksit Bharat," says the Union Minister.

She says from cities to rural villages, initiatives like UPI are transforming lives. "Poor village women now prefer digital payments, disproving doubts about our common people's capabilities raised by the former Finance Minister," says the FM, purportedly hinting at former FM P Chidambaram's remarks, who said that there's "no magic" to India's economic growth because it is an "arithmetic inevitability" considering the sheer size of India's population.

Terming the previous decade before the year 2014 a "lost decade", the FM said (the UPA government) looked "the other way when massive corruption was happening”. She adds that the economy had “literally gone down from what it was in 2004”.

Global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and many others have said India remains the fastest-growing economy in the world, and that its economic growth is projected to remain strong at 6.8% in 2024-25 and 6.5% in 2025-26. The IMF World Economic Outlook for April 2024 suggests the "robustness" of the Indian economy reflects "continuing strength" in domestic demand and a rising working-age population. The IMF had last year termed India as a "shining star" among major growing economies.

Recently, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., had also commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "exceptional work" in India, emphasising that many US officials have “unrealistic expectations” about how they should govern their own countries while Modi addresses challenges “directly”.

As per the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) March 2024 bulletin, India's real GDP growth, which was at a six-quarter high in Q3:2023-24, will continue its momentum in the coming quarters. Defying all estimates, India’s economy grew to a six-quarter high at 8.4% in Q3 FY24 and exhibited over 8% growth in the preceding two quarters.