Economist explains why India can never grow like China

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Timestamps:
0:00 - introduction
1:42 - history of China & India growth
12:39 - India's problem today
20:06 - reasons to be optimistic & sponsor

Attribution:
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Narrated and produced by Dr. Joeri Schasfoort
Edited by Chris Adewole

[manimalworks]

About 15 years ago, I started a company in Xi’an, China. All the paperwork took about 3 hours. The local government even assigned a clerk to walk through the whole process. 3 hours later, I had the license, bank account, and office lease agreement. And the local government even ordered a company name plate as a gift.

[leichen]

China attracts talent and exports industry products;
India exports talent and imports industry products.

[birdangry]

I'll give a small example. I live in a small city in a central province of China. One day, on my way to work, I noticed that a municipal pipeline was leaking a little. I called the mayor's hotline to report the issue. By the time I finished work, the problem had already been fixed. The next day, I received a message from the municipality thanking me for my contribution to city governance, and they also credited my phone account with 30 yuan.

[rayfalcone]

As an Indian, I hope we learn from this video to become better. The truth hurts, but learning from it is what will make us great

[LivingStories-fdgc]

As an Indian, I already instinctively felt the lack of governance at local level but your video made it very clear

[amulia]

I started an amazon business in Canada so I had to go to China to source the products. I booked a flight to shenzhen for a week. But I was done after the 2nd day. Efficiency there is like no other. ?You want something done and its already waiting for you.

[lingy]

India and China could not be more opposite. India has a positive reputation abroad but when you get there you are shocked by the abject quality of infrastructure, pollution and disorderliness. China suffers from negative PR yet when you go there in 2024 you are shocked how clean, high tech and smoothly things run. Our perceptions are all topsy Turvy lol.

[rudranroy]

India can, maybe, compete with Nigeria, not China. Period.

[webapple]

been to india, its the culture of not caring, the place is a mess and anyone who makes something of themselves just flees overseas.

[vibhutisrivastava]

Biggest difference between China and India is its beurocracy and governance efficiency where India is still nowhere close to China.

[grgcharan]

Indian here. You pretty much hit the nail with your analysis. All the initiatives are often directed from the top and have not been effectively implemented at the grassroots level for a long time. Since Modi's tenure began, there has been a focus on infrastructure. But he failed to make any impact on Education and Health which is not helping. Despite 75 years of independence, our system remains top-heavy and even minor tasks like repairing a pothole in a rural road require approval from the state capital, which could be 500 kilometers away. The division among the populace is profound, making consensus perpetually unattainable. And on top of that there is corruption at every level. Despite this we are growing at a respectable rate. That itself is a miracle.

[Blaze]

Only place india can outgrow China’s economy is in Bollywood movies 🍿

[pardeeptandon]

The Primary Job of An IAS officer posted as a Deputy commissioner is not to increase the GDP of the district, while the equivalent Chinese officer is to do precisely this. India needs ADMINISTRATIVE reforms more than ECONOMIC reforms.

[HeyErnie]

Having traveled to China and India, I will say that I cannot see a reality where India undergoes the hyperbolic growth of China, ever. China is a communist country, like the presenter says, and this comes with good and bad things, but the best thing is when the government sets their mind to growth, the economy will grow. Look at photos of Shanghai from the 1990s to now and your jaw will drop.

India on the other hand has a very complicated and sometimes backwards system. I've worked for companies that do business in India and every time we try to get basic paperwork done in the country it's like pulling teeth. Any time we are tasked with doing something in India, it's like passing a hot potato in the office, nobody wants to do it, because we all know it'll be overly complicated or we'll deal with an Indian government official whose priorities seem counter to the objectives of the country.

I do think India will grow, but we're talking 40 years before India grows to the size of China, I think.

[rupanjan]

Indian here. You are right on every level. The problems with my country cannot be blamed to just government, I believe an equal share of the blame is on judiciary. The courts are slow, weak, inefficient and skewed towards the powerful and prosperous sections of the society. Another BIG problem is no one takes any accountability here, everyone just keeps blaming each other like a circus. Until and unless we as a society starts acknowledging all our problems and start respecting rules, we will never be anywhere near China.

[LEVILUP]

I work with both Chinese and Indian in my current workplace. The main difference I noticed between the two group is that Chinese people talk less and work more, and Indian people talk more and work less. Just my observation

[WarsOfate]

India is so proud of its "democracy" but at the same time, it fails to realize that the populist usually doesn't make the right decisions. It makes a decision that appease the voters by disregarding if it's correct or not in the long term.
What generally follow is people who have votes usually want more shares and the "leading candidate" would have to compromise. Imagine compromising over and over, decades after decades, parties after parties with different people at the top. It's like many writers trying to continue the already existing storyline of an anime. Every person (or party) would have different preferences of how the story should be done. When it's said and done, it would be very different from what each person wants in the beginning.
To make it worse, in most cases, the candidate usually being picked by rich people or corporations that have profit

[SpentAmbitionDrain]

I have some friends from India at work. The levels of corruption they describe make anything I've witnessed in the post soviet block countries look like innocent favours. They really need to get a grip on the local government corruption, get the courts under control. Without law applying more broadly to society they will never get the masses to power the machine.

[obsidianstatue]

This is why this channel is way better than "Economics Explained".

[shamittripathi]

Great video!! All Indian politicians should see this. No Indian media channel has balls to do this story.