India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) was 11 times more than that of Bangladesh in 2019, government sources said on October 14 as they played down IMF projections of India slipping below the neighbouring nation on per capita GDP this year.
Earlier in the day in a tweet, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the government over IMF growth projections showing Bangladesh closing in on India in terms of per capita GDP this year and described it as a "solid achievement" of six years of BJP's "hate-filled cultural nationalism".
The government sources, on their part, emphasised that under the Modi government, the per capita GDP has increased from Rs 83,091 in 2014-15 to Rs 108,620 in 2019-20, representing an increase of 30.7 per cent.
“In 2019, India's GDP in PPP terms was 11 times more than that of Bangladesh while population was eight times more. In PPP terms, India's per capita GDP in 2020 is estimated by IMF at $6,284 as compared to $5,139 for Bangladesh,” according to the sources.
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Under UPA 2, the sources said that it had increased from Rs 65,394 in 2009-10 to Rs 78,348 in 2013-14 which is an increase of 19.8 per cent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated India's GDP to grow at 8.8 per cent in 2021, twice that of Bangladesh at 4.4 per cent, they added.
The IMF’s biannual World Economic Outlook report released on October 13, said it expects India’s GDP to decline by 10.3 percent in FY21 due to contraction in economic activities amid the country-wide lockdown for COVID-19.
This is a downward revision from its June forecast of a 4.5 percent drop and is grimmer than the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast of 9.5 percent contraction for FY21.
IMF's Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said all developing economies and emerging markets are expected to contract this year, adding that economies will “need to prioritise critical spending for health.”
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