For the first time in 150 years, India has surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of the size of the economy – a legacy of Brexit and India's rapid economic growth.
A report in Forbes magazine suggested the paradigm shift has been because of the fall in the value of the pound in the past year, and India's consistent growth in the last 25 years.
Once expected to overtake the UK GDP in 2020, the surpass has been accelerated by the nearly 20 percent decline in the value of the pound over the last 12 months. Consequently UK’s 2016 GDP of GBP 1.87 trillion converts to $2.29 trillion at exchange rate of GBP 0.81 per $1, whereas India’s GDP of INR 153 trillion converts to $2.30 trillion at exchange rate of INR 66.6 per $1.
According to the estimated growth in GDP in both the countries, India will likely stay ahead of its erstwhile coloniser till at least 2020.
Furthermore, this gap is expected to widen as India grows at 6 to 8% per annum compared to UK’s growth of 1 to 2% per annum until 2020, and likely beyond.
Earlier this February, India had surpassed China and became the fastest-growing economy in the world.
Rejoicing in this achievement, Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs tweeted:
In a follow up tweet he wrote:
(With inputs from Times of India, Hindustan Times)
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