Billionaire investor Ray Dalio, founder of investment management company Bridgewater Associates, has compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi with former leader of People’s Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping, who is often credited with opening up the Chinese economy. The investor also compared India with the China of the 1980s as it revolutionsed its economy.
Ray Dalio was speaking with Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg who host the All-In Podcast at the All-In Summit 2023 at UCLA campus in Los Angeles.
“I think India is where China was when I started to go in 1984. So, if you look at the complexion, the per capita income…and I think Modi is Deng Xiaoping…so that you have a massive development, creativity…all those elements,” he said on the podcast, where he also said that there is nothing stopping India. He said that according to his statistics and measurements, India has the highest potential growth rate. Dalio acknowledged that India has certain issues, including religious ones, but also that none of those issues would stop India’s growth.
For the uninitiated, Deng Xiaoping is also fondly referred to as the ‘Architect of Modern China’ for his market-economy reforms. Xiaoping’s reforms led China away from a planned economy and Maoist ideologies to foreign investments and a global market. It drove the elevation of nearly a billion people from poverty too. The changes brought about by Xiaoping and sharpened by his successors buoyed China into the second-largest economy.
Dalio had, earlier too, drawn comparisons between India and China. After Chandrayaan-3’s success, he had said, “India's successful lunar mission (landing its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the moon) is another one of many straws in the wind showing its ascendence. As previously shown in my health index for countries, which is used to derive my projections for countries' next 10-year growth rates, India scores on top with a projected growth rate over the next 10 years of about 7%. It has the right mix of ingredients that shows that it has great potential and the right leadership to catalyze it. It reminds me a lot of China in 1984 (when I first went) around the time Deng Xiaoping made his reform and opening up policies that catalyzed China. Congratulations India!”
The investor had met Prime Minister Modi during his US visit in June. He had said India’s potential is enormous after the meeting. PM Modi had urged him to make further investments in India.
Also read: 'Religious issues won't stop India': Ray Dalio bullish on India's emergence as global power
Also read: Chandrayaan-3 landing: Ray Dalio says India reminds him ‘a lot of China in 1984’