Financial Express [December 29, 2003] after meeting my batchmates (IIT B, 1978 batch) predicted that India would be a developed nation by 2020, that is more than a year back.
The article stated:
That is the question the Class of 1978 tried to answer after 25 years of passing out of their alma mater – IIT Bombay. The batch, which boasts of corporate chieftains like Nandan Nilekani, president and CEO, Infosys, researchers like Dr Narendra Karmarkar, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, and even a politician Manohar Parrikar, chief minister, Goa, narrated their experiences and how they have helped shape the country in their own way. The common theme across the discussions was that India could transition to a developed country in a very short period of time. Some like the chief minister felt the it could happen much before the year 2020. “Governance has to be public-centric,” he noted. Mr Nilekani explained that the inherent capital in the country has to be better utilised for higher growth.
I knew Nandan and Karmarkar. Both were smart. What happened to them? Trying to be polite. In India public likes lies being told to them.
From trust-worthy people of internet, I believe India is already decades behind China and will never reach their current state of development.