Land reform is going to be difficult for the Nationalists and even if they do it, it's easy to imagine ways they could get it wrong.
But I tend to thing that the Nationalists would grit their teeth and institute adequate land reforms by the end of the 50s. It's not a sure thing though, given the importance of the landlords as supporters of the KMT. Depending on how things develop, it could be postponed or done in shoddy way.
Also, the technology transfer from the Soviet Union to Communist China in the 50s and 60s was the largest single transfer of knowledge into China in its history and the ChiComs were able to negotiate bargain basement prices for Soviet technical help. After WW2, the US was in no mood to give China massive aid and the Soviet Union isn't going to be morally blackmailed into helping this KMT China.
Also, China is not Taiwan. Even if the KMT wants to do what it did in OTL's Taiwan in China, in many cases it won't be able to do those things as early as they were in OTL Taiwan.
A KMT China isn't going to be a rose garden, though at least there'll be no Great Leap Forward or Cultural Revolution.
So I think the odds are that KMT China will be stronger than OTL's ComChina between 1955 and 1980, but I don't think it will be MUCH stronger like a Taiwan with 1.5 billion people would be.
After 1980 when Deng's policies started bearing fruit for OTL's ComChina, it's hard to say where TTL's KMT China would be in comparison. Many important butterflies would have flapped their wings since the PoD.
fasquardon
The KMT can use the threat of communist ideology to do land reform to solidify their position in China and stamp out Communist influence in the rural areas. They can make landowners shareholders in mixed owned enterprises. Using communism as a threat can help get landowners in line. Chen Cheng did land reform in Hubei province using the shareholder model. Furthermore, Chiang knew land reform was a pressing issue.
In regards to the US, they were definitely pissed off at the level of corruption within the KMT during the wartime. What they witnessed was true but the context was missing. The KMT, under Chiang, lacked cohesion since they were made up of loose warlord factions. Chiang and the central government lost a lot of their best troops during the early years of the conflict with Japan and had to rely on more warlord forces. Serious reform by the KMT central government under a shaky foundation was deemed too risky for Chiang as he was fighting the CCP and Japan. In a post war scenario without Japan and a defeated CCP, Chiang will have much more room to maneuver and fight corruption. Chiang was no Marcos. He was flawed and made mistakes but he was not corrupt. His family and cronies in the KMT were corrupt. The worst he could do for China was to let them continue to get away with their bad behavior. Chiang will for sure go hard on corruption after the dust settles in a KMT victorious China. I believe he can get some results and regain some goodwill from the US government. Post war China was trending towards unification so whether KMT or CCP takes power, China will be united. The only warlords with real power in a post war KMT China were the Ma clique and those guys were loyal to Chiang. Chiang will centralize payroll to bring control of the army back to the central government and consolidate control over China and rebuild basic institutions.
In regards to tech transfers, a KMT China can make Japan do it in exchange for investment privileges. This will be reparation for Japan's firebombing of China. China may also get some from Europe to make up for the concessions and European damages to China. In OTL, Soviet transfers did not last long because of Mao's ego. A KMT China will retain more human capital talent. Although the talent is outnumbered by the uneducated masses, KMT China will have a better foundation for development. The KMT can also make use of educated Chinese diaspora all over as well as the business networks in South East Asia. Most importantly, the KMT have Taiwan. Taiwan, a former colony of Japan, will have some extra human capital with knowledge of Japanese economic technocracy. Perhaps a few Taiwanese economists and advisors can be brought over to help China develop.
A KMT China will not be like OTL Taiwan or South Korea and not even close to OTL Japan. My estimates are as follows:
Best case scenario - Turkey, Poland, Mexico
Worst case scenario - Philippines (if Chiang pulls a Marcos, which he likely won't unless structural factors screw him)
In regards to KMT China being like India, I'm not so sure. India is way more diverse than China. I could see a KMT China bring more emphasis to regional Chinese languages (eg. Cantonese) in daily life and even cinema (TVB in Canton, Shaw Brothers in Shanghai). I could also see more regionalism and localism in KMT Chinese politics. However, India had British influenced foundations and institutions to build their democratic system. KMT China will use a flawed 5 yuan system where the electoral process would be legit but opposition parties would be curtailed until later pressure.