Until 1991, India’s slow social and economic growth made it irrelevant in the

global scenario, other than as a recipient of financial aid from other nations. But
today leading nations view India as a potential superpower. Once a country that
had to rebuild itself from scratch, India now has the third-largest GDP in the
world in purchasing power parity terms

15th August 1947, a day celebrated by the entire country as Independence Day, didn’t
mark the end of a struggle but the beginning of a mammoth task of rebuilding an
entire country and its economy.

This year as we complete 73 glorious years of being an independent nation, let’s

reflect on some of the remarkable accomplishments of one of the world’s fastest
growing economies over the years. India’s Independence in 1947 was the biggest
turning point in its economic history. Because of various attacks and
deindustrialisation by the Britishers, the country was left miserably poor and highly
demoralised.

In spite of attaining Independence in 1947, Indian leaders were concerned that foreign
rule would make a comeback on the pretext of economic control through trade and
investments. To prevent such a situation, India adopted economic independence and
worked towards economic sufficiency, along with formulating five-year plans to
achieve set out goals.

The five-year plans were national economic and social growth initiatives formulated
after those existing in the USSR. India’s first five-year plan, launched in 1951,
focused primarily on agriculture, price stability, power and transport. The plan was a
success, with the economy growing at an annual rate of 3.6 per cent, surpassing the
target of 2.1 per cent. The second five-year plan also called the Mahalanobis Plan
after Professor PC Mahalanobis focussed on rapid industrialisation. The Mahalanobis
Plan in a way laid the foundation of the spirit of self-reliance or Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

On June 9, 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded Nehru as Prime Minister and was the
man instrumental in giving impetus to the Green Revolution and the White
Revolution. The war with China had led to acute food shortage and rising price and
convinced him that India needed to renew focus on agriculture and allow leeway for
private enterprises and foreign investments. The Green Revolution resulted in a record
grain output of 131 million tonnes in 1978/79.

This established India as one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers. Shastri in
his tenure also decided that India had both the capital and the competence to begin
exporting chemical and engineering products and agricultural commodities such as tea
and rubber and has been ever since.

The 1960s ushered in a decade of various economic and growth challenges for India.
The consecutive deaths of Nehru and Shastri had created a situation of political unrest
and Indira Gandhi’s rupee devaluation had led to prices rising in general. On July 19,
1969, Indira, the then Prime Minister and Finance Minister, decided to nationalise 14
largest banks of the country with the aim of increasing the credit given by banks to the
agricultural sector as opposed to big businesses alone.

Ten years of economic liberalisation saw Indian companies flourishing and the first
decade of the 21st century bore witness to this changing tide. November 8, 2016, a
red-letter day in the history of India’s economy, saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi
make history as he said, “To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have
decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand-rupee currency notes presently in
use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight.”

To usher in a new era of economic progress, Modi replaced the Planning Commission
with NITI Aayog (NITI stands for National Institute for Transforming India). NITI
Aayog is a state-of-the-art resource centre that acts as the Government’s think tank
with the necessary resources, knowledge and skills, that enables it to act with speed,
promote research and innovation.

After implementing “Make in India” and “Skill India” mission in July 2017, Modi
announced the implementation of the Goods & Services Tax, making India one of the
few countries to have a tax law that unifies various Central and State tax laws, thereby
facilitating inclusive growth of the nation. Years after making commendable progress
in terms of economic growth and development, the pandemic we face today has yet
again pushed the economy several years back. In order to combat this and for the
economy to overcome the hurdles caused by the pandemic as well as to march
towards an Atmanirbhar Bharat, Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore package,
amounting to about 10 per cent of the gross domestic product or GDP.

Until 1991, India’s slow social and economic growth made it irrelevant in the global
scenario, other than as a recipient of financial aid from other nations. But today
leading nations view India as a potential superpower. Once a country that had to
rebuild itself from ground zero, India now has the third-largest GDP in the world in
purchasing power parity terms and an environment that is conducive for the growth of
budding entrepreneurs and industries alike.

….…………………………

India has sustained rapid growth of GDP for most of the last two decades leading
to rising per capita incomes and a reduction in absolute poverty. Per capita incomes
(measured in US $) have doubled in 12 years.has emerged as the fastest growing
economy of the world.
Major problems of indian economy

 But India has one third of all the people in the world living below the official
global poverty line. It has more poor people than the whole of sub-Saharan
Africa.indian economy still reels under the vicious circle of poverty
 Per capita income is $1,270, placing India just inside the Middle Income
Country category.India's per capita income is 1/20th that of the UK
 Life expectancy at birth is 65 years and 44% of children under 5 are
malnourished. The literacy rate for the population aged 15 years and above is
only 63% compared to a 71% figure for lower middle income countries.
  Despite a strong attempt to become an open economy, exports of goods and
services from India account for only 15% of GDP although this will rise
further in the years ahead
 India runs persistent trade and fiscal deficits and has suffered from high
inflation in recent years. high inflation is a constraint on competitiveness and
growth.

Tremendous population pressure.India is one of the most populous countries in the

world with a population in excess of 1.2 billion

 Massive unemployement and others

Development path and steps taken in recent times to revive the economy
India has followed a different path of development from many other countries. India
went more quickly from agriculture to services that tend to be less tightly regulated
than heavy industry. That said there are some emerging manufacturing giants in the
Indian economy.
Supply-side factors supporting Indian growth and development
1. A fast-growing population of working age. There are 700 million Indians
under the age of 35 and the demographics look good for Indian growth in the
next twenty years at least. India is India is experiencing demographic
transition that has increased the share of the working-age population from 58
percent to 64 percent over the last two decades.
2. India has a strong legal system and many English-language speakers –
this has been a key to attracting inward investment from companies such as
those specialising in IT out-sourcing.
3. Wage costs are low in India and India has made strides in recent years
in closing some of the productivity gap between her and other countries at
later stages of development.
4. India's economy has successfully developed highly advanced and attractive
clusters of businesses in the technology space – witness the rapid emergence
of Bangalore as a hub for global software businesses. External economies of
scale have deepened their competitive advantages in many related industries.

steps taken in recent times to revive the economy

During the past few years some very progressive and bold steps for big economic
reforms have been taken .some of them are

1. goods and service tax (GST)

2. Insolvency and bankrupcy code(IBC)

3. Demonetization

4. Atmanirbhar bharat

5. Make in India initiative-focused on giving a boost to entrepreneurship

6. Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, intended to build a
strong ecosystem that is conducive for the growth of .

7. FASTag is an electronic toll collection system in India, operated by the National

Highway Authority of India. It employs Radio Frequency Identification technology for
making toll payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it or directly
toll owner.