Congress leader Rahul Gandhi kicked up a storm on social media after he shared the IMF prediction which stated that Bangladesh will overtake India in per capita GDP for 2020.
"Solid achievement of 6 years of BJP's hate-filled cultural nationalism: Bangladesh set to overtake India," Rahul said in a tweet, attacking the current government.
Earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had predicted that India is on track to fall below Bangladesh in terms of the per capita GDP.
As per the World Economic Outlook report of IMF released, India's per capita GDP is set to plunge by 10.5 percent to $1,877 this fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. This will make India the third poorest country in South Asia with only Pakistan and Nepal behind.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives now have more per capita GDP than India.
Bangladesh's per capita GDP in dollar terms is expected to grow 4 percent in 2020 to $1,888, overtaking India.
However, India is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 percent growth rate in 2021, thus regaining the position of the fastest-growing emerging economy, surpassing China's projected growth rate of 8.2 percent, the IMF said.
Till five years back, India's per capita GDP was 40 percent higher than Bangladesh. In the last five years, Bangladesh has grown three times the rate of India, at 9.1 percent compared to 3.2 percent for India, a much larger economy.
This is mostly due to the increase in exports and stable growth in the savings and investment rate of the country.