Can India Become the Next China?

If You Missed Our Best Recent Reads:

In 1980, India and China's economies were roughly the same size. Both were populous, low-income nations emerging from decades of stagnation.

Forty years later, the gap is enormous. China has become the world's second-largest economy, with GDP about five times that of India.

And now-for the first time in decades-the world is asking the reverse question:

Will India be next?

China's growth is markedly slowing.

The IMF forecasts it could expand by just 4.8% in 2025, sliding toward 3% by the end of the decade.

Western corporations, long reliant on Chinese supply chains, are accelerating “China + 1” strategies. They need a new destination: big enough, stable enough, with enough potential.

And India is emerging as the top contender.

Expanding middle class.
Growth around 6.4%/year.
The youngest population among major economies.
A massive domestic market.

From the outside, the stars seem to be aligning. But the answer isn't a simple “yes” or “no.”

India will almost certainly become much larger over the next 20 years.

The real question is: How will it grow?

Can it replicate China's rapid industrialization?
Or will it take a different path-slower, more dispersed, but more sustainable?

In this week's piece, Viet Hustler takes a look back at India's development journey and assesses whether the world's most populous nation can become the next economic superpower.