India turns 71: Talking progress of economies, India beats Pakistan hollow

India only grew stronger after its own bailout from the IMF in 1991, the economic liberalisation opened up the economy

Seventy-one years after Independence, India seems to be in a far better economic shape than Pakistan, which may soon seek a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tackle its looming balance of payments crisis. 

But this wasn’t always the case. Pakistan’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was higher than India’s for 44 out of 67 years for which data is available. In other words, the per person value of goods and services produced was higher in the case of Pakistan for most of the time since independence.