A study conducted by the San Francisco-based Asia foundation on America's role in Asia, said, India's economic performance have made it Asia's third great power.

"India's stunning economic performance and its ability to function as a democracy while undertaking a myriad of internal economic, cultural, social and political reforms, have made India Asia's third great power," Stephen Cohen, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, who headed the task force on South Asia, said in the study.

The next US Administration, said Cohen, must continue the general movement toward normalisation and cooperation with India that began in the late 1990s.

Cohen urged the US to come up with answers to several questions, including the status of the transfer of dual use technology to India's economic programmes.

Noting that the Indian economy has during several quarters been the fastest growing economy in Asia, he said, "India became a software superpower, and Indian high-tech firms are now competitive around the world, including the US where job loss due to overseas outsourcing, especially to India, has become a campaign issue in several states. There is some speculation that if present trends continue, the Indian economy might surpass that of China in ten years".

The study also notes that while China is rapidly becoming the world's manufacturing hub; India is a key provider of services. This 'power shift' will gain further momentum if recent signs that Japan's economy is emerging from the doldrums are sustained.