Dr Wilson believes that India's late start will actually prove beneficial to it in the long run.

1. India is likely to be a beneficiary of the developmental process due to its late start.

2. Steady improvements in technologies for information processing and dissemination.

3. Steady decreases observed in time required by countries for doubling per capita GDP:

England: 58 years from 1780-1838
The United States: 47 years from 1839-1886
Japan: 24 years from 1885-1919
South Korea: 11 years from 1966-1977
China: 9 years from 1978-1987 and again from 1987-1996

4. Speed of productivity change in India likely to be higher than any other instance in the past.

Indian women check e-mails and browse the Internet at e-learing centre at Mundakulam village of Malappuram district in Kerala.

Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images

Also see: IPOs: The best divestment tool