India to Become World's 3rd Largest Economy by 2026: NITI Aayog

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) The Indian economy will be bigger than Germany and Japan in the next three years, and also it could become the second largest economy by 2047, NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam said on Thursday.

Addressing an event here, Subrahmanyam further said India can become an education hub for the world as the single biggest advantage it has, keeping all other things aside, is its democracy.

"Currently, the Indian economy is the fifth largest in the world. End of next year, we will be the fourth largest. Year after that will be the third largest," he said.

According to the latest IMF data, size of India economy currently stands at USD 4.3 trillion.

"We will be bigger than Germany and Japan in three years' time. By 2047, we could be the second largest economy (USD 30 trillion)," he added.

Subrahmanyam urged Indian companies, including law firms and accounting firms to aspire to become world leaders.

The NITI Aayog CEO noted that problems faced by middle-income countries are very different from those in a low-income country.

"It is nothing about feeding the poor or, you know, clothing the naked. It is about how you become a knowledge economy," he said.

Subrahmanyam pointed out that the world has never seen a situation where population will shrink.

According to him, Japan is taking 15,000 Indian nurses, Germany is taking 20,000 healthcare workers as they do not have people, and the family systems have broken down there.

"India will be a stable supplier of working age people across the world...this is going to be our single biggest strength," he said.