1. India per capita income will double roughly twice in a generation.

2. India's per capita income grows to 30 times its current level by 2050.

3. The average Indian will remain much poorer than an average American, due to India's late start and higher population growth.

4. India's per capita income as a proportion of US per capita income will rise from barely 2% currently to 17.5% in 2050.

Result - Global benefits

1. India's economic ascendancy will bring several benefits to Western economies.

2. India will account for a third of global growth by 2050, thereby super-charging Western exports.

3. The growing location of R&D facilities in India will provide a platform for reducing costs and improving productivity.

4. India will become a strategic geo-political player in combating terrorism and China's growing economic and military power.

A migrant worker's son dances to the music from a mobile phone at a fruit market in Beijing, China. In the past decade, an estimated 100 million rural residents have left their rural communities in search of better incomes and improved lives in China's big cities.

Photograph: Cancan Chu/Getty Images

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