Indian Economy Since 1947: Description, Analysis and Critique

Contents: I. Indian Economy During British Rule : Sector-wise Description: 1. Agriculture, industry and railways. 2. Government finances, banking and insurance. 3. Foreign trade and the great depression. II. Human and Natural Resources of India: 4. Population trends and characteristics. 5. Population policy and demographic dividend hypothesis. 6. Land and water resources. 7. Forest and mineral resources. III. Leading problems of the Indian Economy: 8. Poverty and unemployment. 9. Inter-state and intra-state inequalities. 10. Development challenges in Hilly and other special areas. 11. Inclusive growth for social justice. 12. Environmental protection, climate change and disaster management. IV. Specific programmes/schemes for welfare of farmers: 13. Planning commission and five year plans (I to XII). 14. Economic reforms in India. 15. Demise of planning Commission and the Birth of NITI Aayog. V. Agriculture and Rural Development: 16. Importance and nature of Indian agriculture. 17. Agriculture inputs and services. 18. Agriculture and information technology (IT). 19. Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana. 20. Doubling farmers income by 2022-23. 21. Rural housing and electrification. 22. Rural transport and communication. 23. Rural water supply and sanitation. VI. Industry and Infrastructure:  24. Repressive industrial policy. 25. Industrial liberalization and competition since 1991. 26. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).  27. Make in India campaign. 28. Start-up India initiative. 29. Institutional  and financial support for infrastructure development. 30. Sector-wise policies and programmes for infrastructure upgradation and development. VII. Fiscal policy and center-state financial relations: 31. Government budgeting and reforms. 32. Tax structure developments. 33. Evolution of centre-state financial relations. VIII. Money credit banking and finance: 34. Monetary policy and inflation targeting. 35. Credit policy, micro finance and self help groups. 36. Reserve Bank of India, Commercial Banks and other financial institutions. 37. Financial markets and financial instruments. IX. Labour, laws employment and skill development: 38. Labour laws and trade unions. 39. Employment generation policies and programmes. 40. Skill development, entrepreneurship and innovations. X. Foreign trade, foreign investment and remittances: 41. Composition and direction of India’s foreign trade. 42. Foreign direct and portfolio investment . 43. Remittances by non resident Indians (NRIs):  44. Future prospects of the Indian economy. Bibliography. Index. 

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has hailed India as a bright spot amids a showing global economy. According to World Economic Forum, India’s growth is extraordinary high. In its bi-annual world economic outlook (January 2018 update). IMF has projected 7.4 percent growth rate for India in 2018-19 and 7.8 percent in 2019-20. This is against the 3.9 percent global growth rate predicted for 2918-19. Interestingly, IMF has projected China’s growth to gradually slow down to 5.5  percent from 6.6 percent in 2018-19. It has, thus, held that India will be the world’s fastest-growing major economy at least for the next two years (2018-19 and 2019-20).

Indian economy has the potential to achieve, and even surpass the 10 percent growth rate. However, this achievement hinges critically on: (a) improvement of the domestic savings rate (including public savings), (b) increased public investment, (c) efficient, reliable and affordable infrastructure, (d) higher inflow of foreign capital, (e) better credit delivery system, (f) labour reforms, (g) reduction in transaction costs, (h) improvement in technology and quality and (i) export competitiveness. 

Indian economy has matured in several important respects. It is now much more integrated with the world economy and has benefited from this integration in many ways. The outstanding success of IT and IT enabled services has demonstrated what Indian skills and enterprises can do, given the right environment. Similar strength is now evident in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, auto components and, more recently in textiles. These gains in competitiveness need to be spread to other sectors also.

India has established a strong and diversified manufacturing base for production of a wide variety of basic and capital goods to meet the requirements of various sectors including heavy electrical, power generation, power transmission, automobiles, shipping, mining, chemicals, and petroleum. 

Entrepeneurial culture is picking up in India. There is enough evidence that Government is withdrawing, though gradually as controller and licenser of private activity an allowing competition and market forces to guide investment decisions. (jacket)