ABSTRACT
India began the 1980s with the Gandhi dynasty in government again. Indira Gandhi had come to power in 1966 but lost the 1977 election to the Janata Party. The Rajiv Gandhi era can be seen as the moment when India embraced the modern world and moved into a more globalised orbit. Rajiv Gandhi sought to reform the centrally-directed planned economy that his grandfather had introduced, and to engage more with the capitalist elements within the system. Rajiv Gandhi interest in computer technology and his attempts to improve India’s technological base, together with the wider liberalisation of the economy, helped Gandhi to raise the country’s standing amongst global companies and governments. There was no Indian ‘big bang’ during Rajiv Gandhi’s time in power. The new economic practices shaping western capitalism and Chinese communism only slowly filtered through to India’s centralised economy.
