RAS question
In May 2025, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said India had overtaken which country to become the fourth-largest economy?
Correct answer: (D) Japan.
In May 2025, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said India had overtaken Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy.
Explanation
The statement was about Japan. DD News reported Subrahmanyam as saying, after the 10th NITI Aayog Governing Council Meeting, that India was the fourth-largest economy, was a USD 4 trillion economy, and was larger than Japan. He also said that only the United States, China and Germany were ahead of India. That is why the MCQ is framed as a dated May 2025 statement: it asks which country India had overtaken in that reported milestone, not for a fresh ranking to be recalculated later. The source also linked the claim to IMF data and described India as set to become the fourth-largest economy in 2025 by surpassing Japan's estimated nominal GDP.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) France is not the country named in the May 2025 statement; the reported milestone was India moving ahead of Japan.
- (B) The United Kingdom was not the country identified in this DD News report; Subrahmanyam's cited comparison was with Japan.
- (C) Germany was listed among the three economies still ahead of India, so India had not overtaken Germany in the statement.
Concept
This tests current economy rankings under the Indian Economy syllabus, especially the ability to read a dated official statement rather than treat rankings as timeless facts. Such questions recur in RAS because GDP-rank milestones often appear in government releases and exam current-affairs digests.