India has surpassed Japan to become the fourth-largest economy (opens in new tab)

Per capita is the more meaningful number. Look up the rankings. The difference is dramatic.

For trajectory note that the Indian population is growing while japans population is shrinking. So taking all that into account per capita it’s about 50 years before India catches up with Japan if current rates stay the same.

I can guarantee rates will not stay the same.

About 70 years ago India decided to adopt Western style Democracy but Soviet style Command economy whereas China adopted Soviet style everything.

Then China started market reforms and liberalization in 1978 whereas India actually started 13 years later in 1991. Both cpuntries have seen massive growth, but the rate of growth in India has simply not kept up with China, and there is also the compounding effect of having starting earlier with more government support in China.

We really should expect to see India continue to improve, but the thing folks tend to not see is that by mere virtue of being closer to the equator, India will suffer massively massively more from Climate Change. The projections are pretty extreme. Unless you live at higher altitudes like Uttar Pradesh in India, you will be screwed

I think that boasting about GDP numbers, with a spice of nationalistic impulse, does not really look good in this case. One can feel proud of the upward trajectory but with a population of 1.4 billion people, a natural competitor of India would be China, which is approaching $20 trillion, and not the 120 million people of Japan. Of course, there will be marginal improvements in relation to the rise of GDP but one needs to look at the quality of life of an average citizen. GDP per capita is something to look at but still very flawed and skewed, not in favor of most of the citizens. A lot of the hardships that the "normal" citizen faces are difficult to just take out of these numbers.

Popular media likes to take this very simplistic view and turns the nations' economies into competition, forgetting that economies should work for the people, not vice versa. If it was a competition, then eventually someone would have to win (what is the definition of winning is unclear to me either) which so far doesn't seem possible. What actually matters is what a country does with the economy it has. Whether it translates into better lives, stability, and opportunity for its citizens. By that measure, "4th largest" tells us almost nothing. The more useful question isn't "how big" but "for whom".

On one hand this is one of early signs of upcoming human capita importance - as automation becomes much more equally distributed, it's the human amount that becomes relevant first and foremost. India needed to increase GDP/cap only a little bit to get big result

On the other... this is showcasing the general failure of Japan in general and its moral defeat to US in the late 80s. Plaza accord was a mistake and Japan keeps riding that decision as a US puppet and against personal interests to this day - including recent turn to militarization

This is great news. With a stronger economy, Indians could stay in India instead of having to immigrate elsewhere (anywhere).

Unfortunately, this metric is only relevant for geopolitics. The people of India still live in a country full of corruption at every political level, with basic hygienic and health needs unmet, an almost toxic air pollution level in big cities, very poor infrastructure, etc...

It's a beautiful place, but I wouldn't want to live there.

India's capital is like a wasteland and this is for ex-middle class (which is now upper class, no middle class exists, its a chasm between upper and lower)

How much of it was stolen from American senior citizens?

You can stop worshipping growth any time you like.

That electric train is a nice image. India has plenty of opportunity to take advantage of cheap solar power and push cargo around the state with it. They are adding more electric vehicles by the day, which will help places like Delhi become more breathable, though the last time I was there, farmers were still burning the fields, causing a lot of air pollution in Delhi during the burns. The manufacturing base is improving, so you can buy relatively cheap vehicles.

Your money goes further in India. Their tax collection is pretty weak, so they print money to fund government spending which usually means higher inflation than we're used to in the US, but they're starting to get a better return on their infra spending as the country is lifted up via the use of the most recent tech (trains, smartphones, fiber, solar, battery, etc...).

It's been fun watching the country and region develop over the years. They still have a ways to go, and in some ways I think I'll miss the old chaotic India. You don't find cows wearing decorative garlands in downtown Chicago or New York. I bet whatever India transforms into, it'll hold some of it's unique charm. That's my hope anyway.

Unfortunately, doesn't mean much. Per capita wise it's among the lowest. GDP of downtown Vancouver surpasses that of richest state of India.

India overtakes Japan as 4th-largest economy, also California's economy too