if 48 is needed to have China and India on WC, then it will be 48
if they cannot qualify even with 48, number will rise again

it is important to have those two markets for TV with their national teams included in tournament, and it will happen, sooner or later
I guess that most believed China will always qualify with 32, and they did in 2002, but not after that

South America will go from 4,5 (4 secured and one through additional qualifications with Oceania) to 6 secured and 1/3 (qualification from 6 teams for 2 spots) and Asia will go from 4,5 to 8 secured and 1/3 through qualification
and one can guess that Asian football is above South American (irony)