This is a reply to ShanOng [ Tijit Pte / Street Smart ] as also to Balu123
The two fastest growing economies are China and India, China currently having bigger numbers than India for sure.
The question is how sustainable is that growth for China and India ? China's economy opened up to globalisation in the 70's as opposed to India which had opened up its doors in the 90's. Obviously, China was ahead and this is the current line up. On the other hand what needs to be noted is the pace and consistency for the years ahead. This is where most economists believe, India wouldnt need much time to close out on the gap with China and subsequently go beyond.
There are few different factors as I see it :
* China is a tightly controlled market with a single party political system, whilst India has a proven record of democratically elected governments with a much more liberalised market. Am sure if you are an investor, this would impact your decision(s).
* China's growth has been majorly owing to the Industry export segment where as Indias growth is a mixture of Industries, trade and a bit more agressive services segment. India has a larger educated, English-speaking population as opposed to China.
* The recent financial crisis seems to have impacted both China as well as India but China was a lot more exposed to the crisis than India has been.
* South Asian markets are tipped to grow more than East Asian or South-East Asian markets.
I guess if you want to really compare and contrast these two countries / economies, I'd suggest comparing 1990's Chinese economy with current Indian figures.. This is a very coarse contrast as there are other factors obviously like, e-Commerce which has impacted the growths massively which I believe both India and China have successfully used it to their advantage.
Just so that the focus on growth isnt lost here, both the economies will grow bigger and better irrespective of it being India or China or even . I believe China is India's biggest trading partner so, chances are both would want each other to be growing more than any other thing.
The key issues to me would not be who would grow bigger but who would distribute that growth better considering poverty is wide-spread both in China and India irrespective of these astounding growths, I guess its all thanks to the rampant corruption. For both these " developing " countries to become " developed " countries the issue of poverty, crime and corruption has to be addressed.
By the way, this newbie ( just joined Alibaba ) is from Sydney, Australia. This was my understanding and I could be wrong or just spot on, just thought would throw in my 2 cents to this thread. It would be great to know of any good business proposals you may have, that I could probably be of some help.
Good luck and Cheers,
evoguy6