India is set to become the third-largest economy in the world by 2030, according to latest estimates by a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.
The London-headquartered accountancy giant said the rapid rise of the Indian economy with its young workforce would push it up from being the 10th largest economy in 2013 to the third-largest by 2030, pushing the UK back into sixth place.
"In the longer run, other emerging markets may overtake the UK, but only India looks set to do so before 2030 according to our latest projections," PwC said in its latest economic outlook.
China, the world's second largest economy, is expected to close the gap with America by 2030, while Mexico is predicted to be the 10th largest economy by 2030, above Canada and Italy, both G7 nations.
Only a couple of years ago there were forecasts that Britain would rapidly become a second-class economic power and would need to defer to the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China in the near future. China has ranked above Japan for a decade as the world's second-biggest economy. By some calculations Brazil leapfrogged the UK in 2012, with Russia and India close behind.
Britain's fall was partly related to the costs of the banking crisis and the recession that followed, coupled with a sharp decline in the exchange rate, which knocked about a quarter off the country's value in relation to its main rivals.
