Lucky for India , Soviet Union collapsed at the right time if not socialism would be still the norm and 1/6th of the world population would be still in abject poverty
"Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day." (According to a report from the World Bank, 2008)
The article makes a bold and simplistic claim but in reality the economic transition happened for many more reasons that are undoubtedly complex. Overall it is an interesting article but be careful on basing too much analysis on it!