Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani on Friday said India will overtake China in GDP growth rate within the next two years.

"I believe that over the next two years...2006 or 2007, India will surpass China in terms of its annual GDP growth rate and consistently maintain that," he said in an address on the occasion of the 32nd Foundation Day of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

This would be a historic moment, he said. "For 15-20 years, we have been talking only about China. I am telling you by the time you enter the real world (professional career), India would have absolute potential to surpass China. Not only that, over the next two decades...(India will be ahead of China)".

Noting that when he joined Reliance around 25 years back, opportunities for young people were limited, he said: "In 25 years, things have transformed and today, India is becoming one with the world.

"You can switch your career paths without a sense of anxiety," he told the students, pointing out that he, a chemical engineer, built infocomm business in the year 2000.

"There is excitement in the air", Ambani, who is the chairman of Board of Governors of IIMB, said.