India After Independence: 1947-2000 - Plot & Excerpts
(See chapter 26.) The crisis pushed India into initiating a process of economic reform and structural adjustment. The reforms, which in the Indian context were almost revolutionary in nature, were ironically started by a minority government led by Narasimha Rao, and guided by one of the most distinguished economists of post-independence India, Manmohan Singh, as finance minister. Reform of the dirigiste, controls-ridden and inward-looking Indian economy was long overdue. As early as the early sixties, Manmohan Singh had argued (quite bravely, given the intellectual climate of the period) that India’s export pessimism at that time was unjustified. He advised more openness and a less controlled economy.1 Other eminent Indian economists such as Jagdish Bhagwati were among those who urged reform in the early stages. An attempt at reform was made in the mid-sixties but it got stymied for a variety of reasons discussed elsewhere (see section 1, chapter 26), leading to a further recoiling into restrictionist policies.
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