Putting aside GDP, which is not a true measure of balanced wealth distribution, just the sheer number of poor people alone make India by far the poorest country on earth hands down.
Poverty in India - Statistics
50% of Indians don’t have proper shelter;
70% don’t have access to decent toilets (which inspires a multitude of bacteria to host their own disease party);
35% of households don’t have a nearby water source;
85% of villages don’t have a secondary school (how can this be the same government claiming 9% annual growth?);
Over 40% of these same villages don’t have proper roads connecting them.
- See more at:
http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-india.html#sthash.34mpucrc.dpuf