New Delhi, May 26 -- On Saturday, Niti Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam cited data from the International Monetary Fund to say that India was overtaking Japan this year to become the world's fourth-largest national economy, with only the US, China and Germany larger.

Also Read: It's time to lay the great Indian GDP controversy to rest

"We are a $4 trillion economy as I speak," he was quoted as saying. To put this in a physical perspective, if this sum were to be stacked up in wads of $1 bills, it would form a stack 437,360km-high-longer than the distance to the Moon.

Also Read: The state of India's economy is not as bright as GDP data may suggest

This is impressive, like the other marker we frequently highlight: of India being the world'...