A Tale of Two Giants: India's and China's Experience with Reform and Growth

Co-organizers: International Monetary Fund and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (India)

November 14–16, 2003
Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, India

The conference examined factors behind India's and China's impressive track record with growth over the past two decades. Academics and public sector officials gathered in New Delhi to consider the impact of a wide range of economic reforms and the shared lessons from the recent experiences of these two rapidly growing economies.



Program

Friday, November 14, 2003
Registration
 
Saturday, November 15, 2003
Registration
Opening Session
  Chair: Hiroyuki Hino, Director, Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, International Monetary Fund
Welcome Remarks
  Wanda Tseng, Deputy Director, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund
  Suman Bery, Director, National Council of Applied Economic Research
Opening Remarks
  Chen Yuan, Governor, China Development Bank
Opening Address: India and China: An Essay in Comparative Political Economy
  Meghnad Desai, Professor, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics
India's Recent Growth Experience
  Suman Bery, Director, National Council of Applied Economic Research; and Kanhaiya Singh, Senior Economist, Macroeconomic Monitoring and Forecasting Division, National Council of Applied Economic Research
China: Economic Performance and Policy Challenges
  Wang Tao, Economist, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund

Session 1: Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty—Contrasting China and India's Experience
Chair: Ashok Lahiri, Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
India's Growth and Poverty Reduction Experience: Facts and Conjectures
  Tim Besley, Professor and Director Programme for the Study of Economic Organization and Public Policy, London School of Economics
China's Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (1978-2002)
  Hu Angang, Professor, Tsinghua University, and Director, Centre for China Studies, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Discussant: Surjit Bhalla, Managing Director, Oxus Research and Investments
 
Session 2: Liberalization, Growth, and Volatility
Chair: Zhang Yuyan, Professor and Deputy Director, Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Effects of Financial Globalization on Developing Countries: Some Empirical Evidence
  Eswar Prasad, Division Chief, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund
Understanding India's Services Revolution
  James Gordon, Division Chief, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund; and Poonam Gupta, Economist, IMF Resident Representative's Office (New Delhi), International Monetary Fund
Discussant: Shankar Acharya; Professor (RBI Chair), Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
 
Session 3:Reform Strategies in the Domestic Financial Sector
Chair: Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
Reform Strategies in the Indian Financial Sector
  Urjit Patel, Executive Vice President, Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd.
Challenges for China's Banking Sector and Policy Response
  Chen Yuan, Governor, China Development Bank
  He Jianxiong, Deputy Director-General, International Department, People's Bank of China
  Luo Ping, Advisor, International Department, China Banking Regulatory Commission
Discussant: Montek Ahluwalia, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund
 
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Session 4: Financing Growth—How Has Growth Been Financed? The Role of FDI and Domestic Financial Intermediation. Lessons From the Two Countries' Experiences
Chair: Pronab Sen, Advisor, Perspective Planning Division, Planning Commission, Government of India
Financial System Reform and Economic Development
  Chen Yuan, Governor, China Development Bank
Bank Financing in India
  Abhijit Banerjee, Professor, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Discussant: Nachiket Mor, Executive Director, ICICI Bank Ltd.
 
Session 5: Trade Liberalization and its Role in Growth—Approaches and Experiences
Chair: Vijay Kelkar, Advisor to the Finance Minister, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Trade Liberalization and Its Role in Chinese Economic Growth
  Nicholas Lardy, Senior Fellow, Institute for International Economics
India in the 1980s and 1990s: A Triumph of Reforms
  Arvind Panagariya, Professor, Department of Economics, and Co-Director, Center for International Economics, University of Maryland
Discussant: Jairam Ramesh, Secretary, Economic Affairs Department, Congress Party
 
Session 6: Capital Account Liberalization—Approaches and Experiences
Chair: Arvind Virmani, Director and Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
Capital Account Controls and Liberalization: Lessons for India and China
  Jonathan Anderson, Managing Director and Head of Asia-Pacific Economics, Union Bank of Switzerland
Capital Account Liberalization: The Indian Experience
  Narendra Jadhav, Principal Advisor, Department of Economic Analysis and Policy, Reserve Bank of India
Discussant: David Cowen, Senior Economist, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund
 
Concluding Roundtable
Chairs: Suman Bery and Wanda Tseng
Discussants: Chen Yuan, Hu Angang, Ashok Lahiri, and Jairam Ramesh