China should be seen as inspiration, not competition: Rajan

'I often see people try to put down China, of course China has its problems...but in three decades it has reached seven and half thousand dollars per capita income that is worth reaching about.'

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday said China should be seen as an "inspiration" rather than "competition" and hoped that India could reach where its neighboring 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 an Assocham industry and trade interactive meet in Bengaluru.

The RBI chief was responding to a question on when India would catch up with China.

"I often see people try to put down China, of course 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 "we need to follow what they followed", the RBI Governor said, "We can't, because they already followed it. They are already there and that path is no longer free. There is somebody occupying that path."

"We can certainly take inspiration from the fact that it is possible. Since we are at a stage where they were 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.

Photograph: Reuters