The Political Economy of India&apos;s Postplanning Economic Reform: A Critical Review

Kalim Siddiqui, null

doi:10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.9.2.0235

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World Review of Political Economy

Volume 9, Issue 2

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Is Open Access

The Political Economy of India's Postplanning Economic Reform: A Critical Review

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research-article

Author(s): Kalim Siddiqui

Publication date (Print): Summer 2018

Journal: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Indian economy, neoliberalism, economic structuring, growth rates, poverty

Abstract

A quarter of a century has passed since neoliberal economic policies were first adopted in India in 1991, and it is timely to review their outcome. The study is important because there currently seems to be a gap in the literature since most published research has highlighted India's overall GDP growth rates. In the postplanning reform period, India reduced the role of the state and public sector and dismantled controls, while increasing the role of the market and private sector within the economy. As a result, foreign capital investment and foreign exchange reserves improved. The study intends to examine what happened to the industrial sector after neoliberalism was adopted. This article primarily focuses on the discourse about neoliberal economic policy and its effects on Indian economy, especially, in the context of sectoral change. The article centres on a critical review of the available literature and a contribution to the substantive topics indicated in the title. The study contributes to the existing literature by focusing on the industrial and the agricultural sector, which has been neglected by the mainstream economists who have focused largely on growth rates.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): worlrevipoliecon

Title: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 2042891X

ISSN (Electronic): 20428928

Publication date (Print): Summer 2018

Volume: 9

Issue: 2

Pages: 235-264

Article

Publisher ID: worlrevipoliecon.9.2.0235

DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.9.2.0235

SO-VID: b6bd1c6f-d4ce-44f3-82ef-3ef28db958ff

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

References

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Siddiqui, K. 2014. “Contradictions in Development: Growth and Crisis in Indian Economy.” Economic and Regional Studies 7 (3): 82–98.
Siddiqui, K. 2015. “Challenges for Industrialisation in India: State versus Market Policies.” Research in World Economy 6 (2): 85–98.
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Siddiqui, K. 2017b. “Globalization, Trade Liberalisation and the Issues of Economic Diversification in the Developing Countries.” Journal of Business & Economic Policy 4 (4): 1–16.
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] All India Debt and Investment Survey. “NSS 70th Round.” 2016. Accessed April 3, 2018. www.icssr-dataservice.in/datarepository/index.php/catalog/106/overview.

[2] Amsden, A. 2003. The Rise of “The Rest”—Challenges to the West from the Late Industrialising Economies . London: Oxford University Press.

[3] Anand, I., and A. Thampi. 2016. “Recent Trends in Wealth Inequality in India.” Economic and Political Weekly 50 (50): 59–67.

[4] Bagchi, A. K. 1976. “De-industrialization in India in the Nineteenth Century: Some Theoretical Implications.” Journal of Development Studies 12 (2): 135–164.

[5] Balakrishnan, P. 2010. Economic Growth in India . New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[6] Bhaduri, A. 2008. “Predatory Growth.” Economic and Political Weekly 43 (16): 10–14.

[7] Bhagwati, J. 1993. India in Transition: Freeing the Economy . Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[8] Bhalotra, S. B. 1998. “The Puzzle of Jobless Growth in Indian Manufacturing.” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 60 (1): 5–32.

[9] Blyn, G. 1966. Agricultural Trends in India 1891–1947: Output, Availability and Productivity . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

[10] Central Statistical Organisation. 2015. CSO Year Book . Accessed April 3, 2018. www.mospi.gov.in/central-statistics-office-cso-0.

[11] Chandrasekhar, C. P. 2013. “Fragile Foundation: Foreign Capital and Growth after Liberalisation.” Social Scientist 41 (1/2): 17–33.

[12] Chandrasekhar, C. P., and J. Ghosh. 2015. “Growth, Employment Patterns and Inequality in Asia: A Case Study of India.” ILO Asia-Pacific working paper series, ILO, Bangkok, Thailand. Accessed November 20, 2017. http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/2014/486985.pdf.

[13] Forbes . 2016. “The World's Billionaires.” Accessed November 20, 2017. http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/.

[14] Girdner, E. J., and K. Siddiqui. 2008. “Neoliberal Globalization, Poverty Creation and Environmental Degradation in Developing Countries.” International Journal of Environment and Development 5 (1): 1–27.

[15] Joshi, V., and I. M. D. Little. 1994. India: Macroeconomics and Political Economy 1964–1991 . Washington, DC: Oxford University Press.

[16] Kaldor, N. 1967. Strategic Factors in Economic Development . Ithaca: New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.

[17] Krueger, A. 1987. “Rent Seeking.” In The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics , vol. 4, edited by J. Eatwell, M. Milgate and P. Newman, 147–149. London: Macmillan.

[18] Lewis, W. A. 1954. “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labor.” Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies 22 (2): 400–451.

[19] Lomborg, B. 2016. “Feeding Infants Well Starts a Virtuous Circle.” Hindustan Times , December 30. Accessed June 10, 2017. http://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/india-s-survey-to-measure-child-nutrition-levels-is-an-excellent-step-forward/story-MNcpqANR7jzZkh0t942liL.html.

[20] Maddison, A. 1995. Monitoring the World Economy, 1820–1992 . Paris: Development Centre of the OECD.

[21] Nagaraj, R. 2017. “Economic Reforms and Manufacturing Sector Growth: Need for Reconfiguring the Industrialisation Model.” Economic and Political Weekly LII (2): 61–68.

[22] National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector. 2009. The Challenge for Employment in India: An Informal Economic Perspective . Vol. 1. New Delhi: National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector.

[23] Nayyar, D. 2017. “Economic Liberalisation in India: Then and Now.” Economic and Political Weekly LII (2): 41–48.

[24] Nicholas, H. 2005. “Introduction: Putting Industrialization Back into Development.” Development and Change 36 (6): 1031–1033.

[25] Nurkse, R. 1953. Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

[26] Patnaik, P. 2013a. “Finance and Growth under Capitalism.” In Non-mainstream Dimensions of Global Political Economy , edited by B. Dasgupta, 12–22. Oxford: Routledge.

[27] Patnaik, P. 2013b. “Independent India at Sixty-Five.” Social Scientist 41 (1/2): 5–15.

[28] Patnaik, P. 2014. “Imperialism and Agrarian Question.” Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy 3 (1): 1–15.

[29] Patnaik, P. 2015. “The Nehru-Mahalanobis Strategy.” Social Scientist 43 (3/4): 3–10.

[30] Rodrik, D. 2002. “After Neoliberalism, What?” Harvard University working paper series. Accessed June 10, 2017. http://cemi.ehess.fr/docannexe/file/2787/rodrik2002.pdf.

[31] Rodrik, D. 2011. The Globalisation Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy . New York: W.W. Norton.

[32] Rodrik, D. 2016. “Premature Deindustrialization.” Journal of Economic Growth 21: 1–33.

[33] Routray, S. 2015. “The Post-Development Impasse and the State in India.” Third World Quarterly 36 (10): 1906–1921.

[34] Siddiqui, K. 1998. “‘Agricultural Exports, Poverty and Ecological Crisis’: Case Study of Central American Countries.” Economic and Political Weekly 33 (39): A128–A136.

[35] Siddiqui, K. 1999. “New Technology and Process of Differentiation: Two Sugarcane Cultivating Villages in UP, India.” Economic and Political Weekly 34 (52): A39–A53.

[36] Siddiqui, K. 2009. “The Political Economy of Growth in China and India.” Journal of Asian Public Policy 1 (2): 17–35.

[37] Siddiqui, K. 2012. “Developing Countries Experience with Neoliberalism and Globalisation.” Research in Applied Economics 4 (4): 12–37.

[38] Siddiqui, K. 2014. “Contradictions in Development: Growth and Crisis in Indian Economy.” Economic and Regional Studies 7 (3): 82–98.

[39] Siddiqui, K. 2015. “Challenges for Industrialisation in India: State versus Market Policies.” Research in World Economy 6 (2): 85–98.

[40] Siddiqui, K. 2016a. “A Study of Singapore as a Developmental State.” In Chinese Global Production Networks in ASEAN , edited by Y.-C. Kim, 157–188. London: Springer.

[41] Siddiqui, K. 2016b. “International Trade, WTO and Economic Development.” World Review of Political Economy 7 (4): 424–450.

[42] Siddiqui, K. 2016c. “Will the Growth of the BRICs Cause a Shift in the Global Balance of Economic Power in the 21st Century?” International Journal of Political Economy 45 (4): 315–338.

[43] Siddiqui, K. 2017a. “Capital Liberalization and Economic Instability.” Journal of Economics and Political Economy 4 (1): 659–677.

[44] Siddiqui, K. 2017b. “Globalization, Trade Liberalisation and the Issues of Economic Diversification in the Developing Countries.” Journal of Business & Economic Policy 4 (4): 1–16.

[45] Siddiqui, K. 2017c. “Hindutva, Neoliberalism and the Reinventing of India.” Journal of Economic and Social Thought 4 (2): 142–186.

[46] Srinivasan, T. N. 1993. “Demand Deficiency and Indian Industrial Development.” In Development and Change: Essay in Honour of K. N. Raj , edited by P. Bardhan, M. Datta-Chaudhuri, and T. N. Krishnan, 246–264. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[47] Stiglitz, J. 2010. Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy . New York: W.W. Norton.

[48] United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. 2012. International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics . Accessed November 22, 2017. https://www.unido.org/resources/publications/flagship-publications/international-yearbook-industrial-statistics.

[49] Williamson, J. 1990. The Progress of Policy Reforms in Latin America . Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.

[50] World Bank. 2016. “Dancing with the Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy.” World Bank Report. Accessed June 10, 2017. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/6632.

[51] Yeldan, Y. 2006. “Neoliberal Global Remedies: From Speculative-Led Growth to IMF-Led Crisis in Turkey.” Review of Radical Political Economics 38 (2): 193–213.