Good visualization (courtesy: Visualizing Economics) that shows that India is a re-emerging market. According to economic historian Angus Maddison, (see Historical statistics at this link) India was the world’s biggest economy from 0 A.D. to the 15th century and second biggest through the start of the 19th century.
Encounters with colonialism (starting with the battle of plassey 1757) and then embrace of Fabian socialism/statism (starting in 1947 thru the early 1980s) sent the Indian economy into a downward spiral for nearly 250 years. Policies that put wealth transfer and wealth redistribution before wealth creation resulted in the impoverishment of millions.
History of World GDP - last 500 years
Popularity: 18% [?]
[...] India’s share of the World Economy since 1500 [...]