Washington: India has consolidated its position as the world's fourth largest economy in Purchasing Power Parity at $ 2,778 billion behind US, China and Japan.

The Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is arrived at by pricing all goods and services at US prices and treating America as standard, instead of converting Rupees into Dollars at foreign exchange rates.

According to the World Bank's World Development Indicators 2004, released today (Apr 23, 2004) and based on 2002 figures, the PPP of United States is put at $ 10,414 billion, followed by China at $ 5,792 billion and Japan at $ 3,481 billion.

Germany is placed fifth at $ 2,226 billion, according to the report.

These changes, analysts have pointed out, render the present power structure at the IMF and World Bank lopsided.

In the G-7, only two US and Japan are ahead of India.

The PPP figures for the other five members of the G-7 are: Germany 2226 billion; France 1,609 billion; the United Kingdom 1,574 billion; Italy 1,510 billion and Canada 907 billion.

The PPP of Russia (which makes it G-8) has improved to 1,165 billion, reflecting the rapid improvement in the Russian economy.