Compare and contrast India and China’s sectoral contribution towards GDP in 2003. What does it indicate?

Thecomparison of India’s and China’s sectoralcontribution towards their respective GDP can be done with the help of the datatabulated below:

1.     Contribution ofPrimary Sector to GDP: The data abovereveals that the contribution of the primary sector to India’s GDP is 23%compared to 15% of China’s GDP. This confirms the agrarian nature of Indianeconomy.

2.     Contribution ofSecondary Sector to GDP: The data alsoreveals that China has comparatively a strong industrial base as compared toIndia. The contribution of secondary sector to China’s GDP is 53% against thecontribution of mere 26% to India’s GDP. From this, we can infer that India’sindustrial sector is far behind that of China.

3.     Contribution ofTertiary Sector to GDP: We can alsoanalyze that although India’s industrial sector is not as strong as that ofChina yet the contribution of India’s service sector is much stronger to its than that of  China.

Thus,analysing the above data helps us to conclude that asignificant portion of India’s GDP is contributed by tertiary sector followedby its agriculture sector. On the contrary, the major contributor to China’sGDP is the secondary sector followed by its tertiary sector.                                             

The process of economic growth hasled to a tremendous shift in the sectoral share ofoutput and employment. The percentage share of the primary sector in totaloutput and employment tends to decrease while that of the secondary andtertiary sector tends to increase. The following facts explain the sectoral share in output and employment of India and China.

i. Both India and China have shown a noticeable structuraltransformation from the primary sector to other two sectors. The primary sectorin both the countries is no longer the important contributor to the nation’sGDP.

ii. While India is relying more onits tertiary sector China is relying more on its secondary sector in terms ofthe sectoral contribution to their GDP. Theexperience of China is similar to that of the other developed countries in theworld. The experience of the developed countries shows that secondary sectorfollowed by the tertiary sector emerge as the leading sectors of the economy.Compared to China, India showed a direct shift from the primary sector totertiary sector. This is due to the fast integration of these two economieswith the other market economies of the world.