DAVOS (Switzerland): The economic race between India and China dominated the meeting of the world's business and political leaders here who clearly see a shift to an Asian century.

Two years ago, the annual discussion focused on four challengers to U.S. economic power — China, India, Russia and Brazil. Last year, China took centre stage. But this year, the spotlight was on India and China, the most populous countries with booming economies and huge domestic markets that are attracting major foreign investment.

Former World Bank president James Wolfensohn said at Sunday's final session of the annual World Economic Forum that ``the global shift'' to India and China ``is hugely important.''

``We're moving from 6 billion to 9 billion people in the next 50 years,'' and all but 200 million are going to be added to the developing world, ``hence the focus on India and China,'' he said.

Mr Martin Sorrell, group chief executive of the British-based communications company WPP Plc. and a co-chair of the annual meeting, said India's strong presentation at the forum and reports on the strength of the Chinese economy, putting it in third place globally by some measures, had sharpened the discussions. India, whose economy is now growing at about 7 per cent annually, brought top policy-makers and dozens of business executives to tout its investment opportunities.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the Government is aiming for growth of 8 per cent to 10 per cent. The fast-growing economies and expanding search for markets have drawn China and India closer.

Mr. Chidambaram, when asked about overtaking China, said his country, with a population of about 1 billion, doesn't want to overtake China in population. ``India and China are not in a race against each other,'' he said.

``We believe that the world has enough room to accommodate both India's needs and China's needs, both for capital, for markets, etc.''