Growth and glory: Might the two Asian cheetahs end up in another dead heat?

Most forecasters had it that India would do significantly better than China in FY24, but the scenario has undergone a change in recent weeks, as China has altered course dramatically, writes T N Ninan

For two years in a row, India's economy has grown faster than China’s. The 7 per cent rate projected for this fiscal year compares with an uncharacteristically low 3.0 per cent for China in calendar year 2022. Similarly, last year’s 9.1 per cent for India trumped China’s 8.1 per cent. This comes on top of the relative performance of the two most populous countries in the five years before there was any sign of Covid (the calendar years 2014-18, and their corresponding fiscal years for India). That is when India outpaced China for the first time — averaging 7.4