ADB: India's Economic Growth Set to Surpass China's in 2015  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicts that India's economic growth is set to surpass China's in 2015. According to ADB's projection, the Indian economy is predicted to reach 7.8 percent in 2015, compared to China's 7.2 percent.

"India's economy is expected to surpass China's not only in 2015, but also in the next few years," said an economist for ADB, Shang-Jin Wei. India's decision to reform its red tape, according to Wei, has successfully managed to lure more foreign investors and consequently, a significant amount of capital into the nation. 

Wei added that aside from India's bureaucratic reforms, its more friendly business climate is also supported by significant fiscal reforms, which effectively increase India's competitiveness in global market. 

A senior economist for ADB, Abhijit Sen Gupta, said India's faster economic growth was partly contributed by its loose monetary policy. Furthermore, its economy is benefiting from the economic slowdown experienced by China, which is suffering from the cooling down of its once-hot property sector, the decreasing inflow of foreign direct investment into the country, as well as the decreasing output of its' manufacturing sector. 

"Whereas India's economic growth is predicted to rise to around eight percent, China's economy is expected to decline to around seven percent," said Gupta. 

China's economic growth rate projection of 7.2 percent in 2015 is the slowest growth projection that the economic powerhouse has posted in the past 24 years. 

Thus, comparatively speaking, China's economic slowdown is relatively less significant, compared to the slowdown experienced by several other nations, which have managed to post a growth rate of up to 8.5 percent prior to the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/2009. 

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