China's non-democratic system means it invests in infrastructure before other more immediately demanded things. I think it has a better education system from primary to secondary, as outside of Kerala a lot of teachers are habitually absent.

India has higher barriers to entry in damn near everything because of the "Licence Raj" and <i>insane </i> employment legislation. Its almost impossible to fire people once your enterprise has more than 100 employees.

China has been experiencing the demographic dividend (falling birthrate means the dependency ratio drops, and you get a bulgein the population pyramid in the working age population, more taxes, fewer pensions and childcare)