Gross domestic product

The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report for 2014-15 released on Thursday believes India's growth outlook is improving gradually and says the real activity indicators are backing its 7.6 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) projection.

"Business confidence remains robust, and as the initiatives announced in the Union Budget to boost investment in infrastructure roll out, they should crowd in private investment and revive consumer sentiment, especially as inflation ebbs," states the report.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the broadest quantitative measure of a nation's total economic activity. More specifically, GDP represents the monetary value of all goods and services produced within a nation's geographic borders over a specified period of time.

consumption + investment + (government spending) + (exports-imports) and the formula is GDP = C + I + G + (X-M). The GDP in India was worth $2066.90 billion in 2014. The GDP value of India represents 3.33 percent of the world economy.

GDP in India averaged $550.27 billion from 1970 until 2014, reaching an all time high of $2066.90 billion in 2014 and a record low of $63.50 billion in 1970. GDP in India is reported by the World Bank Group. After taking 60 years to reach the $1-trillion mark, India added the next trillion in just seven years in 2014.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu optimistic about India's long-term growth to the tune of a $20 trillion economy in the next 20 years. An International Monetary Fund study in 2014 had said that India's GDP would cross $3 trillion after five years in 2019.The Economy of India is the seventh-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).

India is a member of BRICS and a developing economy with approximately 7% average growth rate for the last two decades. NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya in July first week exuded confidence that India could be an $8-trillion economy within next 15 years.

And the outlook for short-term growth is also good as according to the IMF, the Indian economy is the "bright spot" in the global landscape. India also topped the World Bank’s growth outlook for 2015-16 for the first time with the economy having grown 7.3% in 2014-15 and expected to grow 7.5-8.3% in 2015-16.