India sprinting ahead, Pakistan struggling to stay in race: Report

Islamabad, Aug 15 In August 1947, two nations - India and Pakistan - were born almost as twins, separated by an arbitrary border, having shared a colonial past and launched into the modern world with battered economies and fractured societies. 70 years later, India has surged into the ranks of the world’s most powerful economies and largest democracies while Pakistan has faltered, burdened by political instability, economic crisis, and the persistent shadow of its military establishment, a report said on Friday.

After independence, India and Pakistan inherited economies stripped bare, However, India, by June 2025, had become the world's fourth-largest economy - more than 10 times Pakistan’s USD 0.37 trillion - and is projected to overtake Germany by 2028.

"Pakistan’s economy, by contrast, has stumbled from crisis to crisis. Reliant on foreign aid and repeated IMF bailouts — the 2024 programme was its 24th — it struggles with high debt, low reserves, and anaemic industrial output. India’s foreign exchange reserves now exceed $688 billion; Pakistan’s barely touch $15 billion. Per capita income in purchasing-power terms tells the same story: India’s is nearly double Pakistan’s," Khalsa Vox said in a report.

According to the report, the difference in economic situation of two nations is not just in numbers but in self-confidence. India frames itself as an engine of global growth while Pakistan risks being defined by its dependency.

The rivalry between India and Pakistan has seen four wars, countless skirmishes, and a near-permanent state of military alert. In 2025, Global Firepower placed India as the fourth-strongest military in the world while Pakistan is ranked at the 12th position.

"India fields 1.46 million active troops, more than double Pakistan’s 654,000, and backs them with 1.15 million reserves and 2.5 million paramilitary personnel. Its arsenal includes 4,201 tanks and over 148,000 armoured vehicles, compared to Pakistan’s far smaller fleets," the report details.

It mentions further that India also has advantage in the air, with 2,229 aircraft, including Rafales, Su-30MKIs, and indigenous Tejas fighters, against Pakistan’s 1,399. India operates six aerial refuelling tankers while Pakistan has four. The two nations are nuclear powers with India having 180 warheads while Pakistan has 170. However, India's declared "No First Use" policy stands opposed to Pakistan’s more ambiguous nuclear posture.

The two nations also differ in military expenditure. India spent USD 86 billion on defence in 2024 while Pakistan spent USD 10.2 billion. "For India, the military is part of a broader vision of national power. For Pakistan, it has too often been the central — and stifling — arbiter of politics."

India held its first general election in 1951-52 while Pakistan conducted first poll in 1970. India has remained a democracy and 945 million people were eligible to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, making it the largest democratic exercise in human history.

Pakistan, meanwhile, has a troubled democratic history with military coups in 1958, 1977, and 1999 having interrupted civilian rule. Even during peacetime, Pakistan's army and its powerful intelligence service have more decisive influence over national policy. Rumours of another coup had emerged recently. Furthermore, Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir elevated himself to Field Marshal. The report states: "The difference is not merely institutional. India’s political culture, for all its partisanship, has nurtured a stable transfer of power through elections. Pakistan’s has repeatedly been reset by force."

India's progress also outpaces Pakistan on women's rights. The World Economic Forum's 2024 Gender Gap Report placed India at the 131st position while Pakistan stood at 148th. In 2024, Pakistan reported over 24,000 cases of abduction and kidnapping alongside more than 5,000 rapes and 500 honour killings — with conviction rates under two per cent, the report said.

India dominates over Pakistan in the cultural and sporting arena as well. India's ODI team in 2025 was at the top while Pakistan stood at the fifth spot. Apart from cricket, India's sporting rise has been steady in other games also. India's athletes have won 41 Olympic medals since 1900 while Pakistan so far has won only 11. "Culturally, India has leveraged its soft power — from Bollywood to its vast diaspora — to project influence far beyond its borders. Pakistan’s cultural output, while rich, remains constrained by political instability and smaller global networks," the Khalsa Vox report stated.

India has been positioning itself as a central player in the emerging multipolar world order, bolstering ties with the US, Europe, and East Asia while seeking investment from the Gulf. Despite its strategic location, Pakistan risks marginalisation as it is reliant on International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranches and political patronage from China and Saudi Arabia.

The report said, "Independence is not a static achievement but a continuing project. For Pakistan, the task is more urgent: to restore economic stability, reassert civilian supremacy, and rekindle the promise of 1947. Seventy-eight years ago, both nations stood at the same starting line. Today, one is sprinting ahead; the other is struggling to stay in the race."

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