India to become fourth-largest economy in 2025 as it crosses $4-trillion mark: IMF

Indian economy to surpass Japan in 2025

India will surpass Japan to become the fourth-largest economy in 2025, according to International Monetary Fund's data shared in April, with New Delhi progressing towards crossing the mark of a $4 trillion economy.

India is expected to reach $4.187 trillion in nominal GDP in 2025, compared to $4.186 trillion for Japan. In 2024, India was the fifth-largest economy in the world, with a GDP size of $3.9 trillion, compared to Japan's $4.1 trillion. Going forward, the Indian economy is expected to grow by 6.3 percent in real terms, compared to 6.5 percent projected earlier, IMF said in its World Economic Outlook released in April. Japan's GDP, in contrast, is expected to grow 0.6 percent in real terms.

India has been inching closer to become the third-largest economy and is expected to reach the milestone in 2028, surpassing Germany. In 2027, India is slated to cross the $5-trillion mark, with a projected GDP of $5.07 trillion, just $13 million short of Germany’s GDP.

By 2030, India’s economy is expected to be a larger than the size of the German economy by a fifth, with a size of $6.8 trillion. The IMF also projected the Indian economy to grow by 10.1 percent over the next four years. India had surpassed the UK to become the fifth-largest economy back in 2020.