The condescending jokes about India are legendary: India is the economy of the future, and always will be; In an Indian car, everything makes a noise except the horn; Poor India: 200 years of British imperialism and 50 years of the London School of Economics. I am not sure which did the most damage.
When I was director-general of the World Trade Organisation, and had assisted China's entry into the body, I always hoped that its stunning economic success would inspire India, or shake its leaders into following a more open economic strategy.