China should be seen as inspiration, not competition: Rajan

RBIGovernor Raghuram Rajan today said China should be seen as an "inspiration" rather than "competition" and hoped that India could reach where that country is in the next 10 to 15 years.
"I think we should see China as inspiration, rather than as a competition...As inspiration we should see what a country can do in three decades if it is focused and has very strong faith on what it needs to do," he said during ASSOCHAM industry and trade interactive meet here.
The Reserve Bank of Indiachief was responding to a question on when would India catch up with China.

"I often see people try to put down China, ofcourse China has its problems...But in three decades it has reached seven and half thousand dollars per capita income that is worth reaching about," he said.
Stating that he would be the last one to say "weneed to follow what they followed", the RBI Governor said, "We can't, because they already followed it. They are alreadythere and that path is no longer free. There is somebodyoccupying that path."
"We can certainly take inspiration from the fact that it is possible. Since we are at a stage where theywere in late 1990's or early 2000's, we can hope that in next 10 to 15 years we would be there where they are.

"I don't speculate on whether we will catch up and when, but certainly we can," he added.