Through a 40-year prism: India's record creditable, but not outstanding

India's share of world GDP, after shrinking in the 1981-91 decade from 1.7% to 1.1%, rose to 2.5% by 2011, and then to 3.3% in 2021, with still higher shares to come, writes T N Ninan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has put out its latest numbers on the economic performance of different countries. The numbers go back to 1980, when it published its first World Economic Outlook report with country-wise data. When one looks at comparative economic growth, tracked using current US dollars, four countries feature as the best performers of the 2011-21 decade: Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and India — in that order. (For India, 2021 means the financial year 2021-22, its last completed year.)

Only two of these four countries figured among the top performers of the previous decade, with China in the lead