| Publication |
Oct 2004.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the trajectory of India’s economic reforms – assessing both past trends and future challenges. It argues that the gradual nature of reform has been a reflection of the pluralistic character of India’s politics. Contrary to popular perception, India’s reforms were not imposed by international financial institutions. The paper also takes issue with recent research claiming that, because economic growth in the 1990s was, on average, little better than growth in the 1980s, therefore the reforms of the 1990s cannot be considered a hugely consequential development. The author argues that the higher growth rates of the mid 1990s – of roughly 7.5 percent – could not have been achieved by simply continuing with the very limited liberalization of the 1980s. Moreover, sustaining this higher growth trajectory in the years ahead is feasible if, at a minimum, three issues are addressed: agricultural reform, infrastructural improvement, and reforms to unlock the economic potential of poorly performing regions.
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