India Moves Up on IMF’s GDP Per Capita Index, Still Below BRICS Members

New Delhi: India has moved up one position to 126th in terms of GDP per capita of countries, still ranked lower than all its BRICS peers, while Qatar remains the world's richest on this parameter, as per IMF data.

The data, which forms part of the latest World Economic Outlook report of the International Monetary Fund, ranks over 200 countries in terms of per capita GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP).

PPP between two countries is the rate at which the currency of one country needs to be converted into that of a second country to ensure that a given amount of the first country's currency will purchase the same volume of goods and services in the second country as it does in the first.

India has seen its per capita GDP rise to USD 7,170 in 2017, from USD 6,690 last year, helping improve its rank by a position to 126th.

Qatar remains top-ranked with per capita GDP of USD 1,24,930, followed by Macao at the second position with USD 1,14,430 and Luxembourg third with USD 1,09,190.

Among BRICS countries, India has the lowest per capita GDP. Russia boasts of a GDP per capita of USD 27,900, while for China, it stood at USD 16,620, Brazil at USD 15,500 and South Africa at USD 13,400.

Interestingly, as per a recent Credit Suisse report, India is home to 2.45 lakh millionaires with a total household wealth of USD 5 trillion.

As per the IMF data, the richest 10 countries in the world in per capita GDP terms also include Singapore (4th, USD 90,530), Brunei (5th, USD 76,740), Ireland (6th, USD 72,630), Norway (7th, USD 70,590), Kuwait (8th, USD 69,670), United Arab Emirates (9th, USD 68,250) and Switzerland (10th, USD 61,360).

The US has failed to make it to the top 10 and is ranked 13th with a GDP per capita of USD 59,500 while the UK is ranked even lower.

According to a Fortune magazine report based on the IMF data, several top-ranking countries such as Qatar and Brunei "have fuel and oil propelling their economies", while investment and strong banking systems have helped propel economic growth in other countries like Iceland and Ireland.