India’s position in global GDP rankings has become a recurring site of interpretation, often invoked as a shorthand for measuring economic progress. Periods of ascent in growth performance are read as confirmation of strength, while subsequent shifts are explained away through exchange rate movements or external pressures. This oscillation reveals a deeper problem, which a recent editorial (‘Reform agenda matters more than ranking’, IE, April 21) does not fully engage with. Nominal GDP rankings, measured in dollar terms, are shaped as much by currency movements and statistical revisions as by real economic transformation. Changes in position can occur without any meaningful alteration in the underlying structure of the economy...