Economic Growth in India: History & Prospect

by Pularre Balakrishnan

This study of economic growth in India is both an interpretation of its trajectory since 1950 and an evaluation of its prospects in the near future. It is marked by theoretical integrity, historical perspective, thick description, discriminating use of econometrics, and definitive conclusions.

Commencing with a favorable appraisal of the growth record of early independent India and an account of how this advantage was lost, the author proceeds to argue that by now it is more than just delayed liberalizing reforms that stand in the way of sustained double-digit growth rates. The prospects for high long-term growth in India are instead linked to the progress in the areas of agriculture and education, particularly schooling.
 
Further, the author proposes that achieving inclusive growth, currently high on the Indian government’s agenda, would be not merely politically rewarding but pivotal to maintaining the dynamism of the economy. The possibility of such an outcome, he shows, is tied more to the state’s capacity to govern our public institutions than to its command over resources. To that extent the future of growth in India lies as much in the space of politics.

About the Author:

Pulapre Balakrishnan is a Senior Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, and Honorary Visiting Professor of the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. His published work spans the modeling of inflation, measurement of productivity growth, macroeconomics of the transition to the market in Ukraine, agricultural decline in Kerala, and economic growth in India.