The article compares the growth experience of China and India, focusing on their institutional histories and growth models, before turning to an assessment of the prospects of their becoming economic superpowers by 2020.

Comparing the growth prospects of China and India is a daunting task, for both countries possess enormous potential for becoming economic superpowers, but both countries have had different and uneven development paths.

China is the most successful emerging economy today and is poised to become one of the largest economies in the world. It has been phenomenally successful in transitioning from a centrally planned economy into a market-oriented economy. China's strong push for economic growth through reforms that began in 1979 has catapulted it into a trillion dollar economy and one of the world's largest exporters and importers in the span of a decade. China's success, however, is not inconsistent with a significant degree of structural problems in its economy.

Its transition from a centrally planned economy to a more marketized one has not been smooth, and it currently faces a number of challenges to its sustained growth. Although there are a number of significant issues raised by its accession to the WTO, China's need for further economic reforms is a consequence of its particular reform path known as gradualist or incrementalist.

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