New Delhi: India is set to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027, overtaking Japan and Germany to the spot, right behind the US and China, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday during her address at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue. Sitharaman pegged India’s growth rate at a little under 7 per cent during the ongoing financial year, outpacing leading world economies amid global headwinds. Also read: Subrata Roy Sahara dies — What will become of Rs 25,000 crore investor fund lying with SEBI? Details “Even according to the usually conservative estimates of the IMF, the Indian economy is set to emerge as the world’s third largest economy by 2027, hopping over Japan and Germany, as its GDP crosses the $5 trillion level. By 2047, India aspires to be a developed economy,” she said. The finance minister mentioned that India’s ‘Blue economy’ accounts for nearly 4 per cent of the country’s GDP, indicating a plethora of opportunities. India has 9 states and 4 Union territories situated on the coast. Moreover, India’s coastline is dotted with 12 major and more than 200 non-major ports. India also offers a huge network of waterways that can be navigated for domestic and international trade. Indo-Pacific a dynamic region Finance minister Sitharaman called the Indo-Pacific region to be one of the world’s most dynamic regions accounting for nearly 60 per cent of global GDP. Nearly 50 per cent of global merchandise trade goes through the Indo-Pacific region, she said. However, the Indo-Pacific is also a “geopolitically contested space”, said Sitharaman. Talking about the power dynamics in the region, the finance minister stated that India firmly stood behind this system, respecting the international rules-based order, even as others sought to discredit the system. “One draws its legitimacy from an internationally accepted and consensually derived rules-based order. India stands firmly and proudly in the vanguard of this system,” she said. Also read: UCO Bank technical glitch — IMPS transfers to remain down as public sector lender halts service | Know more Transitioning to blue economic model Finance minister Sitharaman said India was keen on transitioning to a blue economic model from a brown one. Moreover, India plans to extrapolate and share them with the Indi-Pacfici region, she said. India’s national power was linked to the oceans which made it aware of the need to boost maritime sector growth, added the finance minister. “We seek to position India as a hub in new and diversified supply chains and value chains across the Indo-Pacific and, indeed, across the world,” she said.