'India could step up to fill the gap as China's economy slows'

India, with its swelling middleclass and rapid urbanisation, could fill the gap left by the slowdown in China, a top Australian minister said on Wednesday.

"Other opportunities in the region, particularly in ASEAN countries, particularly in India, will hopefully meet the hole that has been left by the slowdown in China," Josh Frydenberg, Resources Minister said.

"(India) haven't gone through the urbanisation and development that China has but under the (Narendra) Modi government they're very intent on following that path," he told Sky News.

Frydenberg predicted urbanisation and a growing middle class in India to open doors for Australia after gloomy economic news from China, the world's second largest economy.

He reassured the resource dependent economies that the fundamentals in the global economy would still support commodities despite the International Monetary Fund cutting its global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year.

The minister further cited that the IMF's global growth forecasts of 3.4 per cent in 2016 and 3.6 per cent in 2017 were still very strong.

"Iron-ore shipments to China hit a record in December as the world's second-largest economy increased its steel exports to India", Frydenberg said.

He said that Australian economy could also expect strong growth prospects in tourism with the fast growing Indian middle class.

For the first time in 25 years, China's economy grew at its slowest pace at 6.9 per cent in 2015, sparking global concerns over the health of the world's second largest economy and its impact on investors. 

Image: A labourer ties cloth around his head before unloading coir rolls at a wholesale market in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters