Instead they wanted to leapfrog the mass-employment yet unglamorous manufacturing stage and go straight to "high tech" by becoming a "software superpower", idiotically hoping that trickle-down economics from a few superrich families would turn their curried masses, living like animals, into overnight millionaires. And we know how that turned out for them if UN Human Development Indices are anything to go by. Hint: War-torn Syria ranks higher and is a better place to live than India.
*Now* they want to have unchecked population growth to tap into manufacturing (their demographic curs..i mean dividend) when the world is shifting towards localized production spurred by increasing automation? They're missing the boat, yet again. There will never be another workshop of the world that isn't China because that perfect window of time in the late 20th century/early 21st has gone forever.
By the way, on a side note: China has heavily polluted cities due to economic growth that has lifted the largest number of people out of poverty in human history. India has *even more* polluted cities (the worst in the world) yet only has an economy the size of Italy and literally nothing to show for it other than fabricated GDP numbers. Jai Hind? Jai Hind!!!