The statistic shows GDP in India from 1987 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, GDP in India was at around 3.91 trillion U.S. dollars, and it is expected to reach six trillion by the end of the decade. See figures on India's economic growth here, and the Russian GDP for comparison. Historical development of the Indian economy In the 1950s and 1960s, the decision of the newly independent Indian government to adopt a mixed economy, adopting both elements of both capitalist and socialist systems, resulted in huge inefficiencies borne out of the culture of interventionism that was a direct result of the lackluster implementation of policy and failings within the system itself. The desire to move towards a Soviet style mass planning system failed to gain much momentum in the Indian case due to a number of hindrances, an unskilled workforce being one of many.When the government of the early 90’s saw the creation of small-scale industry in large numbers due to the removal of price controls, the economy started to bounce back, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union - India’s main trading partner - the hampering effects of socialist policy on the economy were exposed and it underwent a large-scale liberalization. By the turn of the 21st century, India was rapidly progressing towards a free-market economy. India’s development has continued and it now belongs to the BRICS group of fast developing economic powers, and the incumbent Modi administration has seen India's GDP double during its first decade in power.

In 2023, 43.51 percent of the workforce in India were employed in agriculture, while the other half was almost evenly distributed among the two other sectors, industry and services. While the share of Indians working in agriculture is declining, it is still the main sector of employment. A BRIC powerhouseTogether with Brazil, Russia, and China, India makes up the four so-called BRIC countries. They are the four fastest-growing emerging countries dubbed BRIC, an acronym, by Jim O’Neill at Goldman Sachs. Being major economies themselves already, these four countries are said to be at a similar economic developmental stage -- on the verge of becoming industrialized countries -- and maybe even dominating the global economy. Together, they are already larger than the rest of the world when it comes to GDP and simple population figures. Among these four, India is ranked second across almost all key indicators, right behind China. Services on the riseWhile most of the Indian workforce is still employed in the agricultural sector, it is the services sector that generates most of the country’s GDP. In fact, when looking at GDP distribution across economic sectors, agriculture lags behind with a mere 15 percent contribution. Some of the leading services industries are telecommunications, software, textiles, and chemicals, and production only seems to increase – currently, the GDP in India is growing, as is employment.

The statistic shows the distribution of the workforce across economic sectors in China from 2014 to 2024. In 2024, around 22.2 percent of the workforce were employed in the agricultural sector, 29 percent in the industrial sector and 48.8 percent in the service sector. In 2022, the share of agriculture had increased for the first time in more than two decades, which highlights the difficult situation of the labor market due to the pandemic and economic downturn at the end of the year. Distribution of the workforce in China In 2012, China became the largest exporting country worldwide with an export value of about two trillion U.S. dollars. China’s economic system is largely based on growth and export, with the manufacturing sector being a crucial contributor to the country’s export competitiveness. Economic development was accompanied by a steady rise of labor costs, as well as a significant slowdown in labor force growth. These changes present a serious threat to the era of China as the world’s factory. The share of workforce in agriculture also steadily decreased in China until 2021, while the agricultural gross production value displayed continuous growth, amounting to approximately 7.8 trillion yuan in 2021. Development of the service sector Since 2011, the largest share of China’s labor force has been employed in the service sector. However, compared with developed countries, such as Japan or the United States, where 73 and 79 percent of the work force were active in services in 2023 respectively, the proportion of people working in the tertiary sector in China has been relatively low. The Chinese government aims to continue economic reform by moving from an emphasis on investment to consumption, among other measures. This might lead to a stronger service economy. Meanwhile, the size of the urban middle class in China is growing steadily. A growing number of affluent middle class consumers could promote consumption and help China move towards a balanced economy.

In 2023, approximately a third of the total population in India lived in cities. The trend shows an increase of urbanization by more than 4 percent in the last decade, meaning people have moved away from rural areas to find work and make a living in the cities. Leaving the fieldOver the last decade, urbanization in India has increased by almost 4 percent, as more and more people leave the agricultural sector to find work in services. Agriculture plays a significant role in the Indian economy and it employs almost half of India’s workforce today, however, its contribution to India’s GDP has been decreasing while the services sector gained in importance. No rural exodus in sightWhile urbanization is increasing as more jobs in telecommunications and IT are created and the private sector gains in importance, India is not facing a shortage of agricultural workers or a mass exodus to the cities yet. India is a very densely populated country with vast areas of arable land – over 155 million hectares of land was cultivated land in India as of 2015, for example, and textiles, especially cotton, are still one of the major exports. So while a shift of the workforce focus is obviously taking place, India is not struggling to fulfill trade demands yet.