Growth drivers and catch-up effect in the brics nations- implications for India

Comparisons between the growth rates of countries have been controversial due to the existence of the convergence effect. Convergence theory propounds that less developed countries are able to catch-up to their developed counter-parts when catered to the catch-up effect. Previous research has focused on convergence rather than comparative analysis focusing more on developed nations. This research extends the body of knowledge by focusing on BRICS nations with policy implications for India thus, tackling the question of how to compare nations when their initial stages of development are different. The growth rates of these economies were analysed by benchmarking it with the United States to understand the extent of catch up effect and the extent to which they need to grow to reach the same level as the United States. The study showed that US exceeds China in terms of growth by ~0.5 times, India by ~2 times, Brazil by ~8 times, Russia by ~7 times and South Africa by ~36 times. This paper also throws light on several areas of improvement in social sector (health and education) and economic sectors (agriculture, industries and services) which can spur economic growth in India and help it to catch up to the more developed economies.