India could be USD 5 trillion economy by 2025: Hardeep Puri

The Indian economy is poised to touch USD 5 trillion next financial year – 2024-25 – and capitalise to double to USD 10 trillion by the end of this decade, said Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri.

At present, the Indian economy is estimated to be about USD 3.7 trillion.

“Lord Ram is blessing us. We are the fifth-largest economy and the fourth-largest stock market… I think that in the next 1-2 years, we will not only be the fourth-largest economy but we will go further ahead,” Puri told ANI on Tuesday.

“I was somewhere told that we would be a USD 5 trillion economy by 2028. I told him that there is no need to wait until 2028; it will happen by 2024-25. We will then be a 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030,” Puri, who is also Urban and Housing Affairs Minister, said.

Global interest in India, he added, is increasing by the day, be it in digital infrastructure, the automobile market, energy or biofuels.

“So, it (the Indian economy) is looking very good,” the minister said.

The Indian economy is expected to grow 7.3 per cent in the current financial year 2023-24, remaining the fastest-growing major economy, the National Statistics Office said on January 5. India’s economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2022-23 and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22.

Lately, India pipped Hong Kong to become the fourth-highest equity market globally, Bloomberg reported. The combined value of shares listed on Indian exchanges reached USD 4.33 trillion as of Monday’s close, versus USD 4.29 trillion for Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Firm GDP growth forecasts, inflation at manageable levels, political stability at the central government level and signs that the central bank is done tightening its monetary policy have all contributed to painting a bright picture for the Indian stock market.

India’s stock market capitalization crossed USD 4 trillion for the first time on December 5, 2023, with about half of that reportedly coming in the past four years. The top three stock markets are those of US, China, and Japan.

Cumulatively, the past 12 months have been stellar for investors who parked their money in Indian stocks. Though there has been some turbulence, the calendar year 2023 gave handsome monetary dividends to stock market investors. In 2023 itself, Sensex and Nifty gained 17-18 per cent, on a cumulative basis. They gained a mere three to four per cent each in 2022.

Notably, foreign portfolio investors have again trained their sight towards India, becoming net buyers in the country’s stock market. In the process, it helped Indian benchmark stock indices taste their all-time highs recently.