India's government has a soft spot for records.
At an AI gabfest in Delhi last month the electronics minister accepted a Guinness World Records certificate
for "the most pledges received for an AI-responsibility campaign in 24 hours" (250,946).
This month local officials in Narendra Modi's constituency set a world record
for the most saplings planted in less than an hour (251,446).
And where records are hard to break, officials make do with a decent spot in the rankings.
Every so often they brag that India is the world's seventh-largest services exporter.
Yay!?
That is why officials have trumpeted for months that India's GDP is the world's fourth-largest,
having overtaken Japan's and lagging behind only those of America, China and Germany.
One minister boasted it would be third by 2027.
The triumphalism is premature.
India remains in fifth place.
There was no hiding from this fact when the statistics ministry released a big revision
to GDP calculations late last month, which found that the economy is in fact 3.3% smaller
than previously estimated, at just under $4trn.
The gap between India and Japan is about $300bn at market exchange rates, nearly double the previous estimate.
No matter.
India will achieve fourth place sooner rather than later, even if instability in the Middle East
erects temporary obstacles, giving India's leaders another opportunity to boast.