Abstract

The development of India and China has fascinated many economists, sociologists, and other social scientists for decades since the two countries have embraced very different political systems and social & economic development models. How these two countries evolve will have great implications for many developing countries in specific and the world community in general. Analyzing India and China based on 27 years of economic development data, and 20 years of human development data, the research applies the social and economic development theories to analyze the historical records and discover the economic and social transformation patterns of two nations. The research focuses on the following questions. What are the major historical differences between India and China’s economic and human development performance? What are the major differences and similarities in their transformation process? What are the different challenges ahead? The paper concludes that India and China adopted and experienced divergent development patterns. As expected, China’s model is that of state and foreign direct investment lead development; surprisingly, however, China showed higher absolute output levels than that of India in all sectors surveyed. India’s model is lead by domestic consumption and service sector growth; the analysis also shows that it is highly entrepreneur-centered. The different challenges facing each country in economic, human and environmental development are analyzed.