SONEPAT, INDIA, November 29, 2002: This lengthy article compares the economy of the world’s two most populous countries, China and India. Once close economic rivals two decades ago, each is struggling to bring progress to vast numbers of impoverished people. But now China has surged far ahead. According to the World Bank, the average Chinese citizen now earns US$890 a year, compared with $460 for the typical Indian. Some blame India’s lagging performance on the country’s stifling bureaucracy while some cite the country’s cultural traditions. Some even maintain that a democracy may be less able than an authoritarian government to promote growth in a poor country. However, the Indian economy has a few bright spots for pockets of high-tech prosperity have popped up in two cities, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
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