Both India and China were mostly communist states, with centralized government and strict control of a business.
China:
China opened up its economy by the 1970s and saw unprecedented growth, which many economists say, might never again be repeated by another country.
China worked on an export-based model and mass production of products using cheap labor. Today over 40% of the country's GDP comes from Manufacturing while the sectors of Industry and Construction account for 48% of the GDP.
India:
India is just starting to grow but it has an economy which is only 1/5th the size of China's. India has a more service-based economy which brings in billions of dollars but is not able to create the same amount of jobs that the manufacturing sector can.
57% of India's GDP is based on the services sector and BPO and software development is their biggest industry.