Indian Economic Growth In Historical Perspective

This book investigates the roots of rapid economic growth of India in recent decades, by exploring historical processes from the late colonial period. Based upon decades-long archival and field research, this book deals with the period from the late nineteenth century to 2013 and offers an integral viewpoint of the economic history of India. While critiquing the conventional understanding that links recent economic growth only with the development of high-tech, export-oriented service sectors under the liberalised economy, the book suggests deeper and wider roots of development that had a cumulative effect in three stages. First, the agrarian development and rural socio-economic changes from the end of the nineteenth century. Second, the state-led import-substitution industrialisation since 1950 that established the industrial foundations for future economic growth. Third, the economic reforms since 1991 that helped technology-intensive industries find new markets with improved quality of production. For the first time available in English, this book by the late Professor Haruka Yanagisawa, who was a leading figure in the South Asia studies collective in Japan, is an important contribution to the academic tradition of economic history of India. It will be of interest to researchers in the field of social and economic history, sociology, anthropology and economies of South Asia.

This volume seeks to unravel and contextualize the so-called dichotomy of ‘old’ and ‘new’ India and what binds them together. To understand this complex process, it attempts to apply a long-term historical perspective, a different conception of the economy and cross-disciplinary approaches. The exceptional feature of this volume is the large historical canvas of essays and its sensitivity to the regional dimension in a country as large and diverse as India. They deal with issues ranging from land and agriculture, entrepreneurship, industry and demographic trends to a critical anatomy of modern Indian economic historiography. Together these essays contribute in providing significantly new and enriching insights into the complex process of transition from colonial to post-colonial economic development. There has been a conscious effort in most cases to capture the influence of the colonial economic structures and processes in shaping the trajectory of growth and development in the post-independence period. Drawing upon a large amount of extremely rich and varied data and information on the socio-economic trends, the book is lucid, well-crafted and reader-friendly.

It is a measure of the youthfulness of economics as a discipline that two centuries after the appearance of Adam Smith's landmark treatise The Wealth of Nations, an economist has posed the question "How do economies grow?" This comprehensive study of economic growth in India is intended as a response to this question. As history, it surveys the half century from the end of colonial rule to the present; as prognosis, it focuses on what we may expect in the immediate future. Drawing upon diverse strands of theory, historical perspective, political economy, and econometrics, the book presents an eclectic and original narrative of the Indian growth experience. The main body of the book is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 provides a critical exposition of some prominent theoretical representations of growth and a historical perspective on its drivers. The remaining three chapters provide a fresh analysis of three periods, respectively, 1950-64, 1965-91, and 1991 onwards. Presenting a favorable appraisal of the growth record of early independent India and an account of how the advantage was lost, the book argues that it is not just "more reforms" that stand in the way of sustained double-digit growth rates. The prospects for high long-term growth in India are instead linked with development of agriculture and education, particularly schooling. Further, the author proposes that inclusive growth is not just some optional extra, however desirable, but intrinsic to the prosperity of the country. The possibility of such an outcome, he argues, is tied more to the state's capacity to govern the public institutions once created by it than its command over resources.

Much has been written on the Indian economy but this is the first major attempt to present India's economic history as a continuous process, and to place the development of agriculture, industry and currency in a political and historical context.

In recent decades, new endogenous growth theory has become popular but the ideas are not new. They go back at least as far as Adam Smith, and the subsequent contributions made notably by Alfred Marshall and Allyn Young. This book critically discusses and provides an historical perspective to the entire spectrum of endogenous growth theories starting with Adam Smith and ending with Paul Romer. It fills an important gap in the literature. While contributions of individual authors are readily available, there is no comprehensive study on the subject covering such a vast ground, critically discussing these authors in a comprehensive framework. It collates all the arguments and economic viewpoints in one collection, providing both the seasoned economist and a graduate economist with a critical comparison of origin, mechanisms, conclusions, and policy implications of these models.

‘Jha is the right scholar and economist to take readers through the development of the Indian economy. Readers will be in good hands.’ —Edmund Phelps, Columbia University, USA, and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics ‘This is perhaps the best and most scholarly contribution to understanding the Indian Economy and Society. Its rich historical perspective and a profound understanding of how India has evolved into a major economic power set standards of scholarship and analytical rigour that will be hard to surpass". —Raghav Gaiha, University of Manchester, UK ‘Linking of economy and society is increasingly recognised as essential for addressing policy challenges by the current phase of globalisation. As such this study should be valuable not just for those studying India, but also for those interested in global developments.’ —Mukul Asher, National University of Singapore, Singapore ‘This book is a tour-de-force review of the fundamental topics on the Indian political economy and society that are relevant for any committed social scientist to be aware of.’ —Sumit K. Majumdar, University of Texas at Dallas, USA This two-volume work provides an account of how India has been meeting its myriad of economic, political and social challenges and how things are expected to evolve in the future. Despite enormous challenges at the time of independence, India chose to address them within a secular, liberal, democratic framework, which guaranteed several fundamental rights. Challenges included intense mass poverty and hunger, very poor literacy and educational abilities of the population, the task of uniting a country with scores of languages and ethnicities ruled by different entities for decades and persistent threats of external aggression, to name just a few. Over time, incomes and opportunities have expanded enormously and India has regained her self-confidence as a nation. In this first volume, Jha presents a long view of the performance of the Indian economy and discusses key aspects of India’s population, land and labor. In addition, the Indian Constitution and basic structure of governance are analysed within the context of major economic and political developments in independent India.

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 favourable 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.

‘Jha is the right scholar and economist to take readers through the development of the Indian economy. Readers will be in good hands.’ —Edmund Phelps, Columbia University, USA, and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics ‘This is perhaps the best and most scholarly contribution to understanding the Indian Economy and Society. Its rich historical perspective and a profound understanding of how India has evolved into a major economic power set standards of scholarship and analytical rigour that will be hard to surpass". —Raghav Gaiha, University of Manchester, UK ‘Linking of economy and society is increasingly recognised as essential for addressing policy challenges by the current phase of globalisation. As such this study should be valuable not just for those studying India, but also for those interested in global developments.’ —Mukul Asher, National University of Singapore, Singapore ‘This book is a tour-de-force review of the fundamental topics on the Indian political economy and society that are relevant for any committed social scientist to be aware of.’ —Sumit K. Majumdar, University of Texas at Dallas, USA ‘Over the years, I have benefited from reading the works of Professor Jha, and from teaching from them. I enthusiastically recommend these two volumes.’ —Raaj Kumar Sah, University of Chicago, USA This two-volume work provides an account of how India has been meeting its myriad of economic, political and social challenges and how things are expected to evolve in the future. Despite enormous challenges at the time of independence, India chose to address them within a secular, liberal, democratic framework, which guaranteed several fundamental rights. Challenges included intense mass poverty and hunger, very poor literacy and educational abilities of the population, the task of uniting a country with scores of languages and ethnicities ruled by different entities for decades and persistent threats of external aggression, to name just a few. Over time, incomes and opportunities have expanded enormously and India has regained her self-confidence as a nation. In this second volume, Jha examines the performance and prospects for India’s agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors. In addition, India’s links with the external world through international trade, investment, migration and remittances are discussed, as well as gender issues, inter-community relations and India’s future prospects.