China and India to rank as the world's most influential economies

Most people in the world believe that China will be the world's most influential economy in ten years, except for a majority of Indians.

The first Harris Poll conducted in Asia showed that in fact 80 percent of Indians believe that the top position will be claimed by their own country.

In contrast almost half of the respondents, or 49 per cent in the US, 85 per cent in China, 87 per cent in Hong Kong and 75 per cent in Singapore believed China will take the top spot.

India ranks openness of trade as being less important to the success of the economy than China does.

About 16 percent of respondents from India saw this as being important compared to 39 percent of those from the mainland.

The survey, conducted by market research firm Harris Interactive, aims to detail the economic views of more than 4,000 respondents across the six countries.

Asha Choksi, Senior Vice President, Harris Interactive Asia, said: "But in India they were focused on things like their infrastructure and their feeling was that if things moved in the right direction their economy could be one of the largest as well."

Respondents in China showed the most optimistic outlook of their economy.

Ninety percent of Chinese believed that their economy will grow over 25 years compared with 66 percent of Indians who said the same about India, and 54 percent of Americans about the US.

Alvin Liew, Economist, Standard Chartered Bank, said: "Going forward, I think this optimism is likely to persist. In this decade itself, China will still be in there together with India and some of the selected countries such as Vietnam and possibly also Indonesia."

Singapore respondents also showed a healthy sense of optimism - 46 percent saw the Republic as the next big player in the global economy.

This was a higher figure compared to Hong Kong at 40 percent.

Mr Liew said: "I think if you look at Singapore's growth, the 14.5 percent growth certainly that is a big confidence booster for the economy, the citizens and for the government going forward".

Respondents from India, Hong Kong, China and US also viewed Singapore as having more prospective growth compared to other countries in the Southeast Asia region.