Emerging powers--India and China are both growing, but not equally

摘要

ONE of the questions often asked is why India's metal consumption has lagged behind China's by so much. After all, Indian consumption of base metals is only around 10% of China's yet both have a large population and are enjoying urbanisation programmes that should be good for development and metals consumption. However, while there are some similarities between the Chinese and Indian economies, there are some very big differences. For example, China's urbanisation rate has been much faster than India's, rising from 19.6% in 1980 to 44.5% in 2010. India's urbanisation rate has increased from 23.1 % to 30.3% over the same period. China's rate of economic growth has also been faster, averaging 9.8% year-on-year since 1980, compared with 6.1 % year-on-year for India, equivalent to a 17-times rise in China's GDP over the period, compared with a six-times rise in India's aggregate GDP over the same time frame.