New Delhi– India has the potential to rise beyond being the world’s third-largest economy and eventually claim the second spot, provided it continues its current trajectory of resilience and consistent policymaking, billionaire investor Mark Mobius said on Wednesday.
“In just a few years, India has moved from the world’s 11th largest economy to the fifth,” Mobius noted in an interview with IANS. As of 2025, India remains the fifth-largest economy globally, trailing behind the United States, China, Germany, and Japan in terms of total GDP.
According to the latest estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s real GDP is projected to reach $4.3 trillion in 2025—just behind Japan at $4.4 trillion and Germany at $4.9 trillion. If current trends hold, India is expected to overtake Japan this year and surpass Germany by 2027.
Mobius believes India’s rise could go even further. “India now has a substantially larger population than China. Recent estimates suggest China’s actual population may be closer to 800 million, with an average age far higher than India’s 1.2 billion,” he said.
He emphasized that reducing import barriers could significantly accelerate India’s economic ascent. “If India can dismantle tariff and non-tariff import restrictions, the manufacturing sector will thrive, and the economy will go from strength to strength,” said Mobius, who runs the Mobius Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund.
Commenting on India’s stock market, which has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of global headwinds, Mobius said that the market had already undergone a significant correction even before U.S. trade restrictions were announced.
“There will be a recovery, so it’s a good time for investors to gradually average into quality stocks. If they already hold positions, it’s best to stay invested and wait for the rebound,” he advised.
Indian equity markets have staged a dramatic comeback. On Tuesday, a single-day rally added a staggering ₹11 lakh crore (approx. $130 billion) to investor wealth, fully recovering from the losses incurred following the U.S. tariff announcement on April 2. The broad-based rebound was fueled by upbeat investor sentiment, supportive global cues, and renewed domestic optimism. (Source: IANS)
