Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Can India Leapfrog China?

An interesting article on the New York Times website about the competition at Davos between India and China. It reflects a number of the points I made in my last post. Here's a brief excerpt:

"Indian executives here prided themselves on the things that set their country apart from its biggest rival among emerging markets, China: democracy, a reliable legal framework for investors, a widespread command of English, a young population due to overtake China’s by 2030, and of course its famed information technology sector.

But there was also an acute sense of envy of China’s superior infrastructure, Bejing’s capacity to map out long-term economic development unbound by election deadlines and the country’s comparatively high literacy rates, particularly among women. . . Despite the government’s pledges to the contrary, growth in India had not been inclusive. Child malnutrition had barely improved over the past two decades . . . and caste politics still excluded millions of people from real opportunity. While most children now enrolled in schools, 65 percent drop out and only 12 percent go to college."

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