India has become the world’s sixth-biggest economy, pushing France into seventh place

<p>India has become the world's sixth-biggest economy, pushing France into seventh place, according to updated <strong>World Bank</strong> figures for 2017.</p> <p>India's gross domestic product (<strong>GDP</strong>) amounted to $2.597 trillion at the end of last year, against $2.582 trillion for France.</p> <p>The country's economy rebounded strongly from July 2017, after several quarters of slowdown.</p> <p>India, with a population of around 1.34 billion, is poised to become the world's most populous nation, whereas the <strong>French </strong>population stands at 67 million. This means that India's per capita <strong>GDP </strong>continues to amount to just a fraction of that of <strong>France </strong>which is still roughly 20 times higher, according to World Bank figures.</p> <p>Manufacturing and consumer spending were the main drivers of the Indian economy last year, after a stutter blamed on demonetisation and implementation of <strong>Goods and Services Tax (GST)</strong>.</p> <p>India has doubled its <strong>GDP </strong>within a decade and is expected to power ahead as a key economic engine in Asia, even as China slows down.</p> <p>According to the<strong> International Monetary Fund (IMF)</strong>, India is&nbsp; and 7.8 per cent in 2019, boosted by household spending and a tax reform.</p> <p>This compares to the world's expected average growth of 3.9 per cent.</p> <p>The <strong>London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research</strong>, a consultancy, said at the end of last year that India would overtake both <strong>Britain </strong>and <strong>France </strong>this year in terms of <strong>GDP</strong>, and had a good chance to become the world's third-biggest economy by 2032.</p> <p>At the end of 2017, <strong>Britain </strong>was still the world's fifth-biggest economy with a <strong>GDP </strong>of $2.622 trillion.</p> <p>The US is the world's top economy, followed by <strong>China</strong>, <strong>Japan </strong>and <strong>Germany</strong>.</p>