{"id":524,"date":"2012-04-21T03:30:27","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T19:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/?p=524"},"modified":"2013-08-15T09:07:33","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T01:07:33","slug":"524","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/?p=524","title":{"rendered":"Bloomberg: \u201cIn God we trust. Everyone else, bring data.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last two decades, China has grown four times the global growth rate and India three times. Infrastructure, and even the lack thereof, has been an important part of these growth stories. For China, the approach has been characterized by building ahead of demand and facilitating overall economic growth. But for India, growth has occurred despite woefully low infrastructure levels, and the majority of Indian business leaders now believe that infrastructure is the number one constraint on the economy, holding back economic growth by 1.5-3.0% every year\u2212depending, of course, on whose figures you trust.<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to trace India and China\u2019s growth trajectories is through infrastructure data – After all, data, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg tweeted<\/a>, is definitive. The table below shows us that China is leading India in every measure of infrastructure development except mobile density and rural road networks.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Six Decades of Infrastructure Development: India and China<\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Infrastructure Services<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

India<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

China<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

1951<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1981<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2011a<\/sup><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1952<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1981<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2011<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n
Mobile Phones (Millions)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
893.8<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
986.3<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Mobile Phone Density (per 100 people)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u00a0\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
76.9<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
73.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Power Capacity (GW)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2.3<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
33.4<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
206.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1.8<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
69.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1,152.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Power Generation<\/strong>(Billion kwh)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
6.6<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
129.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
865.8<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
7.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
8309.3<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
3695.9<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Roads ( 1000 kms)
<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
399.9<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1485.4<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
4,236.4<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
126.7<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
897.5<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
4,063.5<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Rail Lines Route Length (kms)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
53,600<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
61,200<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
64,400<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
24,500<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
53,900<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
93,345<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Electrified Tracks (kms)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
400<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
5,400<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
19,600<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
1,700<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
36115<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Rail Freight (billion-ton-kms)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
44.1<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
158.5<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
626.5<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
.08<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
571<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
2,946.5<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Rail Passenger (billion kms)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
66.5<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
208.6<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
978.5<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
.<\/em>02<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
138.2<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
961.2<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Safe Drinking Water<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
42<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
88<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
72<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
89<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Improved Sanitation<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
7<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
31<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u2212<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
85<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n
\n
85<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
<\/h6>\n
<\/h6>\n
Sources and Notes: \u00a0\u00a0a<\/sup>2011 India data are for calendar year except when in italics. Indian data for 1951 and 1981 are in financial years. Indian data are from Economic Survey 2011-2012 except telecom data are from Telecom Regulation Authority of India. <\/span><\/h6>\n
Data for China are from China Online and Statistical Communique from Ministry of Statistics. <\/span><\/h6>\n
\u00a0\u2212.= not available; Italics represent data for latest available<\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

But data is only the beginning of, and not the complete, story. Sometimes, it raises more questions than it answers: What do\u00a0these data mean with regards to the\u00a0choices policy makers have made? Were these choices made intentionally\u00a0and are these choices\u00a0still relevant today? What conclusions can we draw about the facets of Chinese infrastructure policy? And are there lessons to be learnt for India?<\/p>\n

The next few entries will highlight the different growth strategies available to China and India and the choices they have made.<\/p>\n

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For the last two decades, China has grown four times the global growth rate and India three times. Infrastructure, and even the lack thereof, has been an important part of these growth stories. For China, the approach has been characterized by building ahead of demand and facilitating overall economic growth. But for India, growth has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,46],"tags":[63,49],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china-and-india","category-six-decades-of-infrastructure-development","tag-india-and-china","tag-infrastructure-data"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sKjDD-524","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":725,"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.infranomics.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}