India will overtake UK this year as the World's fifth Biggest Economy

India is probably going to surpass the UK in the world's largest economy rankings in 2019, according to a report by world consultancy firm PwC. As per the report, while the United Kingdom and France have frequently switched places due to similar levels of development and roughly equal populations, India's climb up the rankings is likely to be permanent.

PwC's Global Economy Watch report projects real GDP growth of 1.6 percent for the UK, 1.7 percent for France and 7.6 percent for India in 2019.

"India and France are likely to surpass the UK in the world's largest economy rankings in 2019, knocking it from fifth to seventh place in the global table," the report said.

According to World Bank data, India became the world's sixth largest economy in 2017 surpassing France and was seemingly to go past the United Kingdom that stood at the fifth position.

PwC's global Economy Watch is a short publication that appears at the trends and issues affecting the global economy and details its latest projections for the world's leading economies.

"India ought to return to a healthy rate of growth of 7.6 % in 2019-20 if there aren't any major headwinds in the world economy such as enhanced trade tensions or supply-side shocks in oil.

"The growth will be supported through the further realization of efficiency gains from the newly adopted GST and policy impetus expected in the first year of a new government," said Ranen Banerjee, Partner, and Leader - Public Finance and economic science, PwC India.

Mike Jakeman, the senior economist at PwC, said India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, with an enormous population, favorable demographics and high catch-up potential due to low initial GDP per head.

"The United Kingdom and France have frequently alternated in having the larger economy, however subdued growth in the United Kingdom in 2018 and again in 2019 is likely to tip the balance in France's favor. The relative strength of the euro against the pound is a crucial issue here," Jakeman said.

The global economy as a whole is predicted to slow in 2019 as G7 countries return to long-run average growth rates, the PwC report said.

PwC expects that the pick-up in growth of most major economies seen between the end of 2016 and also the starting of 2018 is now over.

As per the World Bank data, in 2017, India became the 6th largest economy with a GDP of USD 2.59 trillion, relegating France to the 7th position. The GDP of France stood at USD 2.58 trillion.

The UK, that is facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of USD 2.62 trillion, which is about USD 25 billion more than that of India, the data showed.

The United States was the world's largest economy with a size of USD 19.39 trillion, followed by China (USD 12.23 trillion) at the second place in 2017.

Japan (USD 4.87 trillion) and Germany (USD 3.67 trillion) were at the 3rd and 4th places, respectively.