The “India Everywhere” campaign of the Confederation of Indian Industry took this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, by storm. If public relations were the route to economic success, India would be a world-beater. Indians were indeed everywhere, while the Chinese were relatively invisible. Since Indian economic growth is now forecast at 8.1 per cent this fiscal year (to March 31 2006), confidence is running high. Yet confidence has an evil twin: complacency. It is far from certain that India’s growth rate is now durably and decisively above the average of the past quarter of a century. It is equally far from certain that India will do better than China in exploiting its potential. Much reform is still needed. The greater the complacency, the greater is the risk of doing too little, too slowly.

Economists’ forum

Martin Wolf mediates a group of the world’s most influential academic economists debating the big questions

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