From The Economist:
India and China could grow even faster but for their political timidity
For the past two years and, according to projections, this year and next as well, the Indian economy has managed to grow at around 7% or better. That allows optimistic souls, in London, New York and Tokyo as well as in Delhi and Bangalore, to hope that India might now be on the verge of repeating China’s awesome transformation. By averaging annual growth of 9.5% for almost three decades, China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in the most rapid and far-reaching economic transformation in history.
Such talk, alas, is just that: optimistic. Even India’s prime minister, the courteous and intellectual Manmohan Singh, admits as much. He admires China’s discipline in driving through big infrastructure projects and economic reforms, he says; but notes (with diplomatic phrasing), that China is “more focused than India, as a democracy, can afford to be.” It is, he reckons, a price worth paying; he has no desire to see India change its political system.
