ABSTRACT
Policy reforms in India started from the 1991 macroeconomic crisis. The government temporarily tightened fiscal policy, devalued the currency and initiated a number of market-liberalising economic reforms. In the 1970s, the average GDP growth rate was 3.6 per cent per annum, which was much lower than the East Asian growth rate (7.2 per cent), and even lower than of Latin American countries (5.2 per cent). Although the growth of real GDP in India during the first three decades of planning was 3.4 per cent per annum (sometimes referred to as the Hindu rate), it has risen to more than 5 per cent since 1980–81. The post-1980/81 period is considered here the period of economic shift in India (not the post-1991). Thus, for both China and India, comparison is around the same time period. Before the 1980/81 planning period, analyses will help determine the factors responsible for economic growth in India since 1980/81.
