India set for 3rd largest GDP tag

New Delhi: While Pakistan has threatened to respond forcefully to India’s attack on terrorist infrastructure in the neighbouring country, the stark economic contrast between the two countries also bears testimony to the disparate paths that the two neighbours have been pursuing since they became independent from British rule.

India has emerged as the world’s fastest-growing economy, with World Bank figures for 2024 showing that the country’s GDP is close to $3.88 trillion, which is more than 10 times the size of Pakistan’s economy at a mere $0.37 trillion.

India is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest economy in 2025, with the country’s nominal GDP rising to $4.187 billion during the year to surpass Japan, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report. India has a massive forex kitty of $688 billion.

Pakistan is on the verge of economic collapse and is surviving on IMF loans, with its forex reserves down to $15 billion.

Interestingly, Pakistan’s economy, in the initial years after independence, grew at the same pace as India’s, backed by US aid and donations from the oil-rich Islamic nations.

However, while democratic India kept its focus on economic development and lifting its masses out of poverty, Pakistan has been rocked by bloody coups and military dictatorships, with the army Generals still calling the shots and fuelling hostility against its more prosperous neighbour.