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Economic history of India



 
 
Economic history of India is begins from Indus Valley civilization
Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization , abbreviated IVC, was an ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus River basin. Primarily centered along the Indus river, the civilization encompassed most of Pakistan, including its Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan provinces, and extending into modern day Indian states of Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab...
 in many textbooks. See also history of agriculture in India
History of agriculture in India

Indian agriculture began by 9000 BCE as a result of early cultivation of plants, and domestication of crops and animals. Settled life soon followed with implements and techniques being developed for agriculture....
.

India has followed a socialist-inspired policies for most of its independent history, which have included extensive public ownership, regulation, red tape
Red tape

"Red tape" is a derisive term for excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or Bureaucracy and hinders or prevents action or decision-making....
, and trade barrier
Trade barrier

A trade barrier is a general term that describes any government policy or regulation that restricts international trade. The barriers can take many forms, including the following terms that include many restrictions in international trade within multiple countries that import and export any items of trade....
s collectively known as License Raj. India developed at extremely slow "Hindu rate of growth
Hindu rate of growth

File:Per capita GDP of South Asian economies & SKorea .pngHindu rate of growth is a controversial and derogatory expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the economy of India before 1991, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income averaged 1.3%....
" and slipped behind many other Asian countries. After forced to borrow from IMF in 1991, India launched economic liberalization
Economic liberalization in India

The economic liberalization in India fix to ongoing reforms in Economy of India.After Independence in 1947, India adhered to socialist policies. The extensive regulation was sarcastically dubbed as the "License Raj", while the slow growth rate was dubbed as the "Hindu rate of growth"....
 and has progressed towards a modern market-based system.






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Economic history of India is begins from Indus Valley civilization
Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization , abbreviated IVC, was an ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus River basin. Primarily centered along the Indus river, the civilization encompassed most of Pakistan, including its Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan provinces, and extending into modern day Indian states of Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab...
 in many textbooks. See also history of agriculture in India
History of agriculture in India

Indian agriculture began by 9000 BCE as a result of early cultivation of plants, and domestication of crops and animals. Settled life soon followed with implements and techniques being developed for agriculture....
.

India has followed a socialist-inspired policies for most of its independent history, which have included extensive public ownership, regulation, red tape
Red tape

"Red tape" is a derisive term for excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or Bureaucracy and hinders or prevents action or decision-making....
, and trade barrier
Trade barrier

A trade barrier is a general term that describes any government policy or regulation that restricts international trade. The barriers can take many forms, including the following terms that include many restrictions in international trade within multiple countries that import and export any items of trade....
s collectively known as License Raj. India developed at extremely slow "Hindu rate of growth
Hindu rate of growth

File:Per capita GDP of South Asian economies & SKorea .pngHindu rate of growth is a controversial and derogatory expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the economy of India before 1991, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income averaged 1.3%....
" and slipped behind many other Asian countries. After forced to borrow from IMF in 1991, India launched economic liberalization
Economic liberalization in India

The economic liberalization in India fix to ongoing reforms in Economy of India.After Independence in 1947, India adhered to socialist policies. The extensive regulation was sarcastically dubbed as the "License Raj", while the slow growth rate was dubbed as the "Hindu rate of growth"....
 and has progressed towards a modern market-based system. Now it has both red tape and very high inequality.

Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley civilization
Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization , abbreviated IVC, was an ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus River basin. Primarily centered along the Indus river, the civilization encompassed most of Pakistan, including its Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan provinces, and extending into modern day Indian states of Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab...
, the first known permanent and predominantly urban settlement that flourished between 2800 BC to 1800 BC boasted of an advanced and thriving economic system. Its citizens practiced agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, domesticated animals, made sharp tools and weapons from copper
Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
, bronze
Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other chemical element such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon....
 and tin
Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as an oxide, SnO2....
 and traded with other cities. Evidence of well laid streets, layouts, drainage system and water supply in the valley's major cities, Harappa
Harappa

Harappa is a city in Punjab , northeast Pakistan, about 35 km southwest of Sahiwal.The modern town is located near the former course of the Ravi River and also beside the ruins of an ancient history fortification city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization....
, Lothal
Lothal

Lothal is one of the most prominent cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. Located in the modern state of Gujarat and dating from 24th century BC, it is one of India's most important archaeology site that dates from that era....
, Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro

Mohenjo-daro was one of the largest city-settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization of south Asia situated in the province of Sind, Pakistan....
 and Rakhigarhi
Rakhigarhi

Rakhigarhi, or Rakhi Garhi, is a village in Hisar District in the northwest Indian state of Haryana, around 150 kilometers from Delhi. It lies on the Chautang River....
 reveals their knowledge of urban planning
Urban planning

Urban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning, to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities....
. They eventually over used their resources, and slowly died out. There have been few weapons found in the Indus Valley, showing that they were peaceful people, and they did not get slaughtered by the Aryans.

Ancient and Medieval Characteristics

Though ancient India had a significant urban population, much of India's population resided in villages, whose economy was largely isolated and self-sustaining. Agriculture was the predominant occupation of the populace and satisfied a village's food requirements besides providing raw materials for hand based industries like textile
Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
, food processing
Food processing

Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for ingestion by humans or animals either in the home or by the food industry....
 and crafts. Besides farmers, other classes of people were barber
Barber

A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, give shaving, and trim beards. In previous times, barbers also performed surgery and dentistry....
s, carpenter
Carpenter

A carpenter is a skilled artisan who performs carpentry - a wide range of woodworking that includes constructing building construction, furniture, and other objects out of wood....
s, doctors
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
 (Ayurvedic practitioners
Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India, and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda comprises the words , meaning 'life' and , meaning 'science'....
), goldsmith
Goldsmith

A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a Goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards....
s, weaver
Weaver

The Ploceidae, or Weavers, are small passerine birds related to the finches.These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills, most of which breed in sub-Saharan Africa, with fewer species in tropical Asia and also in Australia....
s, etc

Religion

Religion, especially Hinduism, played an influential role in shaping economic activities. The Indian caste system castes and sub-castes, despite its social fallbacks, functioned much like medieval European guilds, ensuring division of labour and provided for training of apprentices. The caste system restricted people from changing one's occupation and aspiring to an upper caste's lifestyle. Thus, a barber could not become a goldsmith and even a highly skilled carpenter could not aspire to the lifestyle or privileges enjoyed by a Kshatriya (person of a warrior class). This barrier to mobility on labour restricted economic prosperity to a few castes.

Pilgrimage towns like Allahabad, Benares, Nasik, Puri, Orissa Puri, etc., mostly centred around rivers, developed into centres of trade and commerce. Religious functions, festivals and the practice of taking a pilgrimage resulted in a flourishing pilgrimage economy.

Family business

In the joint family system
Complex family

Complex Family is a generic term for any family structure involving more than two adults. The term can refer to any extended family or to a polygamy of any type....
, members of a family pooled their resources to maintain the family and invest in business ventures. The system ensured younger members were trained and employed in the family business and the older and disabled persons would be supported by the family. The system, by preventing the agricultural land from being split ensured higher yield because of the benefits of scale
Scale (social sciences)

In the social sciences, scaling is the process of measurement or ordering entities with respect to quantitative attributes or traits. For example, a scaling technique might involve estimating individuals' levels of extraversion, or the perceived quality of products....
. The system curbed members from taking initiative because of the support system and family or work.

Organizational entities

Along with the family-run business and individually owned business enterprises, ancient India possessed a number of other forms of engaging in business or collective activity, including the gana
Gana

The word , in Sanskrit, means "flock, troop, multitude, number, tribe, series, class" . It can also be used to refer to a "body of attendants" and can refer to "a company, any assemblage or association of men formed for the attainment of the same aims"....
, pani
Pani

Pani is a surname used in India, found in the state of Orissa. There are two stories how this surname came about. The first one says the great grammar pundit Pa?ini is the ancestor of Panis, and the other story is that a king of Kalinga conferred the title Pani to Brahmins who could easily memorize all of the Vedas....
, puga, vrata
Vrata

In the context of Hinduism and Hindu mythology, the term vrata denotes a religious practice to carry out certain obligations with a view to achieve divine blessing for fulfillment of one or more than one desire....
, sangha
Sangha

Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose....
, nigama and sreni. Nigama, pani and sreni refer most often to economic organization
Organization

An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment....
s of merchants, craftspeople and artisans, and perhaps even para-military entities. In particular, the sreni was a complex organizational entity that shares many similarities with modern corporation
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
s, which were being used in India from around the 8th century BC until around the 10th century AD. The use of such entities in ancient India was widespread including virtually every kind of business, political and municipal activity.

The sreni was a separate legal entity which had the ability to hold property separately from its owners, construct its own rules for governing the behavior of its members, and for it to contract, sue and be sued in its own name.Laws of Manu
Manu Smriti

, also known as 'Manava-Dharmasastra' , is the most important and earliest metrical work of the Dharmasastra textual tradition of Hinduism....
VIII and Chanakya
Chanakya

Chanakya was an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Empire Emperor Chandragupta Maurya , and architect of his rise to power. Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient Indian political treatise called the Arthasastra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya....
's
Arthashastra
Arthashastra

The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on Public administration, economics policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with Chanakya , who was a professor at Taxila and later the prime minister of the Maurya Empire....
( Some ancient sources have rules for lawsuit
Lawsuit

In law, a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, called the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy or equitable remedy....
s between two or more sreni and some sources make reference to a government official (
Bhandagarika) who worked as an arbitrator for disputes amongst sreni from at least the 6th century BC onwards. There were between 18 to 150 sreni at various times in ancient India covering both trading and craft activities. This level of specialization of occupations is indicative of a developed economy in which the sreni played a critical role. Some sreni could have over 1000 members as there were apparently no upper limits on the number of members.

The sreni had a considerable degree of centralized management. The headman of the sreni represented the interests of the sreni in the king’s court and in many official business matters. The headman could also bind the sreni in contracts, set the conditions of work within the sreni, often received a higher salary, and was the administrative authority within the sreni. The headman was often selected via an election
Election

An election is a decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office. This is the usual mechanism by which modern Representative democracy fills offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional government and local government....
 by the members of the sreni, who could also be removed from power by the general assembly. The headman often ran the enterprise with two to five executive officer
Executive officer

While executive officer literally refers to a person responsible for the performance of duties involved in running an organization, the exact meaning of the role is variable, depending on the organization....
s, who were also elected by the assembly.

Coinage

Punch marked Silver
Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
 Ingots, in circulation around 5th century BC and the first metallic coins
COinS

ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in the HTML code of Web pages....
 were minted around 6th century BC by the Mahajanapadas
Mahajanapadas

Mahajanapadas literally "Great Kingdoms" . Ancient Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had evolved and flourished in the northern/north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent prior to the rise of Buddhism in India....
 of the Gangetic plains were the earliest traces of coinage in India
Indian coinage

Coinage of India, issued by List of Indian monarchs and smaller middle kingdoms of India began during the 1st millennium BCE, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage....
. While India's many kingdoms and rulers issued coins, barter
Barter

Barter is a type of trade in which product or Service are directly exchanged for other goods and/or services, without the use of Money. It can be bilateral or multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a very limited extent....
 was still widely prevalent. Villages paid a portion of their agricultural produce as revenue while its craftsmen received a stipend out of the crops at harvest time for their services. Each village, as an economic unit, was mostly self-sufficient.

Exports

Surplus of Indian manufactures, like the muslin
Muslin

Muslin is a type of finely-woven cotton textile, introduced to Europe from the Middle East in the 17th century. It became very popular at the end of the 18th century in France....
 of Dacca, calicos
Calico (fabric)

Calico has different meanings according to which country the word is used in. Originally calico was a plain weave textile which originated in the city of Kozhikode, Kerala, India, which was known by Europeans as Calicut, in the 11th century....
 of Bengal
Bengal

Bengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent sovereign nation of the Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India, although some regions of the previous kingdoms of Bengal are now part of the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Oris...
, shawl
Shawl

A shawl is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or Square piece of cloth, that is often folded to make a triangle but can also be triangular in shape....
s of Kashmir
Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" referred only to the valley lying between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal range; since then, it has been used for a larger area that today includes the Indian administerd state of Jammu and Kashmir consisting of the Kashmir...
, steel and iron works, silk, and other textiles and handicrafts, agricultural products like pepper
Black pepper

Black pepper is a flowering plant vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning....
, cinnamon
Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10?15 metres tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is native to Sri Lanka.The leaf are ovate-oblong in shape, 7?18 cm long....
, opium
Opium

Opium is a narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating the immature seed pods of Opium poppy . It contains up to 12% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade....
 and indigo
Indigo

Indigo is the color on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nanometre in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet . Although traditionally considered one of seven divisions of the optical spectrum, modern color scientists do not usually recognize indigo as a separate division and generally classify wavelengths shorter...
 were exported to Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
 and South East Asia in return for gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
 and silver
Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
.

GDP estimates

According to economic historian Angus Maddison
Angus Maddison

Angus Maddison, Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Groningen.Born in 1926 in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, Maddison attended the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate....
 in his book
The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, India had the world's largest economy from the 1st century to 11th century, with a 32.9% share of world GDP in the 1st century to 28.9% in 1000 CE.

Maurya Empire

During the Maurya Empire
Maurya Empire

The Maurya Empire , ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was geographically extensive, great power, and a political military empire in history of India....
 (c. 321-185 BC), there were a number of important changes and developments to the Indian economy. It was the first time most of India was unified under one ruler. With an empire in place, the trade routes throughout India became more secure thereby reducing the risk associated with the transportation of goods. The empire spent considerable resources building roads and maintaining them throughout India. The improved infrastructure combined with increased security, greater uniformity in measurements, and increasing usage of coins as currency
Currency

A currency is a Medium of exchange, facilitating the trade of goods and/or Service s. It is coins and paper bills used as money. It is one form of money, where money is anything that serves as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a standard of value....
 enhanced trade. During this time, the
Arthasastra ("science of state") was written by the Chanakya
Chanakya

Chanakya was an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Empire Emperor Chandragupta Maurya , and architect of his rise to power. Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient Indian political treatise called the Arthasastra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya....
, an adviser to Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya , sometimes known simply as Chandragupta , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in bringing together most of the Indian subcontinent....
. The
Arthasastra is one of the most important ancient texts on economics, politics and administration. It was a treatise on how to maintain and expand power, obtain material gain, and administer an empire. It covers both theory and implementation and contains many clear and detailed rules regarding the governing of an empire.

The economic situation in the Maurya Empire is comparable to the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 several centuries later, which both had extensive trade connections and both had organization
Organization

An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment....
s similar to corporation
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
s. While Rome had organizational entities which were largely used for public state-driven projects, Maurya India had numerous private commercial entities which existed purely for private commerce. This was due to the Mauryas having to contend with pre-existing sreni hence they were more concerned about keeping the support of these pre-existing private commercial entities. The Romans did not have such pre-existing entities to contend with; hence, they were able to prevent such entities from developing.

Mughal Empire


1526

During this period, Mughal India
Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
 was the second largest economy in the world. The gross domestic product of India in the 16th century was estimated at about 24.5% of the world economy, in comparison to Ming China
Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling Dynasties in Chinese history of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty....
's 25% share.

1600

An estimate of India's pre-colonial economy puts the annual revenue of Emperor Akbar's treasury in 1600 at £17.5 million, in contrast to the entire treasury of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a country in North-West Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801....
 in 1800, which totalled £16 million. The gross domestic product of Mughal India
Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
 in 1600 was estimated at about 22.6% the world economy, in comparison to Ming China
Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling Dynasties in Chinese history of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty....
's 29.2% share.

1700

By this time, the Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
 expanded to almost , or 90 per cent of South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
, and a uniform customs and tax administration system was enforced. Annual revenue reported by the Emperor Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb Aurangzeb ruled India for 48 years, bringing a larger area under Mughal rule than ever before . He is generally regarded as the last Great Mughal ruler....
's exchequer exceeded £100 million in 1700 (twice that of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 then). Thus, India emerged as the world's largest economy, followed by Manchu China
Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in History of China, and was the last ruling Chinese Dynasties of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 ....
 and Western Europe
Western Europe

Western Europe refers to the countries in the western most half of Europe. This concept has had different meanings, political and cultural as well as geographical issues have influenced the area....
.

Nawabs, Marathas & Nizams


1725 - 1750

During this period, Mughals were replaced by the Nawabs in north India, the Marathas in central India and the Nizams in south India. However, the Mughal tax administration system was left largely intact. China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. The gross domestic product of India in 1750 was estimated at about 80 per cent that of China.

1750 - 1775

During this period, about two-thirds of the civil service in India was still dominated by Muslim officers though the Maratha empire expanded to almost , or 34 per cent of Indian landscape, while the Nizam's dominion expanded to almost , or 17 per cent of Indian landscape. China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. The gross domestic product of India in 1775 was estimated at about 70 per cent that of China. Nevertheless, a devastating famine broke out in the eastern coast
Bengal famine of 1770

The Bengal famine of 1770 was a catastrophic famine between 1769 and 1773 that affected the lower Gangetic plain of India. The famine is estimated to have caused the deaths of 15 million people ....
 in early 1770s killing 5 per cent of the national population.

British Rule

The British colonial rule created an institutional environment that did stabilize the law and order situation to a large extent. The British foreign policies however stifled the trade with rest of the world. They created a well developed system of railways
Rail transport in India

Rail transport is a commonly used mode of long-distance transport in India in India. Almost all rail operations in India are handled by a state-owned company, Indian Railways, under the federal Ministry of Railways....
, telegraphs and a modern legal system. The infrastructure the British created was mainly geared towards the exploitation of resources of India. By the end of the colonial rule
Colonial India

Colonial India refers to areas of the Indian Subcontinent under the rule of European Colonialism powers. The colonial era in India began in 1502, when the Portuguese Empire established the first European trading centre at Kollam, Kerala....
 India inherited an economy that was one of the poorest in the world and totally stagnant, with industrial development stalled, agriculture unable to feed a rapidly accelerating population. They were subject to frequent famines, had one of the world's lowest life expectancies
Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is the average expected lifespan of an individual. Life expectancy is heavily dependent on the criteria used to select the group....
, suffered from pervasive malnutrition
Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a general term for a medical condition caused by an improper or inadequate diet and nutrition.According to the World Health Organization, hunger and malnutrition are the single gravest threats to the world's public health and malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases....
 and were largely illiterate.

GDP estimates

An estimate by Angus Maddison, formerly of Groningen University, reveals that India's share of the world income went from 24.4% in 1700, comparable to Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
's share of 23.3%, to a low of 3.8% in 1952; however, these statistics too are based on assumptions that have been criticized. While Indian leaders during the Independence struggle and
left-nationalist economic historians
Economic history

Economic history is the study of how economy evolved in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations....
 have blamed the colonial rule for the dismal state of India's economy, a broader macroeconomic view of India during this period reveals that there were segments of both growth and decline, resulting from changes brought about by colonialism and a world that was moving towards industrialization and economic integration
Economic integration

Economic integration is a term used to describe how different aspects between economies are integrated. The basics of this theory were written by the Hungary Economist B?la Balassa in the 1960s....
.
Price of Silver - Rate of Exchange: 1871-72 to 1892-93
Period Price of Silver (in pence
British One Penny coin

The United Kingdom decimal one penny coin, produced by the Royal Mint, was issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was Decimal Day....
 per Troy ounce)
Rupee
Rupee

File:Bank note of republic of nepal.jpgThe Rupee is the common name for the currency used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles; in Indonesia the unit of currency is known as the rupiah and in the Maldives the rufiyah, which are cognate words of Hindi Rupiya....
 exchange rate (in pence)
1871-1872 60½ 23 ?
1875-1876 56¾ 21?
1879-1880 51¼ 20
1883-1884 50½ 19½
1887-1888 44? 18?
1890-1891 47 11/16 18?
1891-1892 45 16¾
1892-1893 39 15
Source: B.E. Dadachanji. History of Indian Currency and Exchange, 3rd enlarged ed. (Bombay: D.B. Taraporevala Sons & Co, 1934), p.15.


The fall of the Rupee

See also: The crisis of silver currency and bank notes (1750–1870)
Gold standard

The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common media of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold....


After its victory in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between Second French Empire and Kingdom of Prussia, while Prussia was backed by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Grand Duchy of Baden, History of W?rttemberg#The Kingdom...
 (1870-71), Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 extracted a huge indemnity from France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 of £200,000,000, and then moved to join Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
 on a gold standard for currency. France, the U.S. and other industrializing countries followed Germany in adopting a gold standard throughout the 1870s. At the same time, other countries, such as Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, which did not have the necessary access to gold or those, such as India, which were subject to imperial policies that determined that they did not move to a gold standard, remained mostly on a silver standard. A huge divide between silver-based and gold-based economies resulted. The worst affected were economies with a silver standard that traded mainly with economies with a gold standard. With discovery of more and more silver reserves, those currencies based on gold continued to rise in value and those based on silver were declining due to demonetization of silver. For India which carried out most of its trade with gold based countries, especially Britain, the impact of this shift was profound. As the price of silver continued to fall, so too did the exchange value of the rupee
Rupee

File:Bank note of republic of nepal.jpgThe Rupee is the common name for the currency used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles; in Indonesia the unit of currency is known as the rupiah and in the Maldives the rufiyah, which are cognate words of Hindi Rupiya....
, when measured against sterling
Sterling

Sterling may refer to:* Sterling College , a college in Sterling, Kansas, USA* Sterling College , a small college in northern Vermont, USA* Sterling silver, a grade of silver...
.

British East India Company rule

1775 - 1800 During this period, the East India Company began tax administration reforms in a fast expanding empire spread over , or 35 per cent of Indian domain. Indirect rule was also established on protectorate
Protectorate

A protectorate, in international law, is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity, in exchange for which the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of their relationship....
s and buffer states. China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. The gross domestic product of India in 1800 was estimated at about 60 per cent that of China.

The Company treasury reported annual revenue of £111 million in circa 1800 thus registering an average annual growth of merely 0.1 per cent throughout the turbulent 18th century. Almost all of the Indian land revenues were diverted by the Company to help the British Crown defend herself in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts involving Napoleon I of France First French Empire and changing sets of European allies and opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815....
.

1800 - 1825 China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. The gross domestic product of India in 1825 was estimated at about 50 per cent that of China. British cotton exports reach 3 per cent of the Indian market by 1825.

1825 - 1850 China was the world's largest economy followed by the UK and India. Industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomics and cultural conditions in United Kingdom....
 in the UK catapulted the nation to the top league of Europe for the first time ever. During this period, British foreign and economic policies began treating India as an unequal partner for the first time ever. English replaced Persian as the official language of India. The gross domestic product of India in 1850 was estimated at about 40 per cent that of China. British cotton exports reach 30 per cent of the Indian market by 1850.

British Raj

1850 - 1875 The formal dissolution of the declining Mughal Dynasty
Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
 heralded a change in British treatment of Indian subjects. During the British Raj
British Raj

British Raj primarily refers to the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule....
, massive railway projects were begun in earnest and government jobs and guaranteed pensions attracted a large number of upper caste Hindus into the civil service for the first time ever. China was the world's largest economy followed by the USA, UK and India. The gross domestic product of India in 1875 was estimated at about 30 per cent that of China (or 60 per cent that of the USA). British cotton exports reach 55 per cent of the Indian market by 1875.

1875 - 1900 USA was the world's largest economy followed by China, UK, Germany and India. Collapse of the central authority of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in History of China, and was the last ruling Chinese Dynasties of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 ....
 and the resultant chaos triggered China's short but rapid decline on the world stage. The gross domestic product of India in 1900 was estimated at about 20 per cent that of the USA.

The Crown treasury reported annual revenue of £122 million in circa 1900 thus registering an average annual growth of merely 0.1 per cent throughout the turbulent 19th century.

1900 - 1925 USA was the world's largest economy followed by the UK, China, France, Germany, India and the USSR. The gross domestic product of India in 1925 was estimated at about 10 per cent that of the USA.

Zoroastrian business conglomerates like Tata
Tata

Tata may refer to:...
 and Godrej
Godrej

Godrej may refer to:* Godrej family, an influential family of India* Godrej Group, a group of companies founded by the Godrej familythis family holds properties in and around mumbai with an estimated price of 10 billion dollara...
 begin to dominate textile, mining and durable goods industries.

The Crown treasury reported annual revenue of £125 million in 1925 thus registering an average annual growth of merely 0.1 per cent during the turbulent first quarter of 20th century.

During this period, India became a net importer from net exporter of foodgrains.

1925 - 1950 USA was the world's largest economy followed by the USSR, UK, China, France, Germany and India. The gross domestic product of India in 1950 was estimated at about 7 per cent that of the USA.

The Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
 of 1929 had a very severe impact on India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, which was then under the British
British Raj

British Raj primarily refers to the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule....
. During the period 1929–1937, exports and imports fell drastically crippling seaborne international trade. The railways and the agricultural sector were the most affected.

The international financial crisis resulted in the soaring prices of commodities. The discontent of farmers manifested itself in rebellions and riots. The Salt Satyagraha
Salt Satyagraha

The Salt Satyagraha was a campaign of non-violent protest against the British salt tax in colonial India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930....
 of 1930 was one of the measures undertaken as a response to heavy taxation during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression and the economic policies of the Government of British India worsened the already deteriorating Indo-British relations. When the first general elections were held according to the Government of India Act 1935
Government of India Act 1935

The Government of India Act 1935 was passes during the Interwar period and was the last pre-independence constitution of British Raj. The significant aspects of the act were:...
, anti-British feelings resulted in the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress-I is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Allan Octavian Hume, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million memb...
 winning in most provinces with a very high percentage of the vote share.

The newly independent but weak Union government's treasury reported annual revenue of £334 million in 1950 thus registering an average annual growth of almost 4 per cent during the second quarter of 20th century. In contrast, Nizam Asaf Jah VII of south India was widely reported to have amassed a fortune of almost £668 million then.

About one-sixth of the national population were urban by 1950.

Republic of India


Hindu rate of growth

(orange) with South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
 (yellow). Both started from about the same income level in 1950. The graph shows GDP per capita of South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
n economies and South Korea as a percent of the American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 GDP per capita.]]

The Hindu rate of growth
Hindu rate of growth

File:Per capita GDP of South Asian economies & SKorea .pngHindu rate of growth is a controversial and derogatory expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the economy of India before 1991, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income averaged 1.3%....
 is used to refer to the low annual growth rate
Growth rate

Growth rate may refer to:*Exponential growth, a growth rate classification*Compound annual growth rate or CAGR, a measure of financial growth...
 of the economy of India
Economy of India

The economy of India is the twelfth largest in the world by market exchange rates and the fourth largest in the world by GDP, measured on a List of countries by GDP basis....
 before 1991. It stagnated at around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income growth averaged extremely low 1.3% a year. At the same time, Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 grew by 8%, Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
 by 9%, Thailand
Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
 by 9%, South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
 by 10% and in Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
 by 12%. The term, was coined by India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
n economist
Economist

An economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy....
 Raj Krishna
Raj Krishna

Raj Krishna was an India economist who taught at the Delhi School of Economics. He is most famous for the phrase "Hindu rate of growth" which he coined for India's low rate of GDP growth between the 50s and 80s....
.

Socialist Reforms (1950-1975)


USA was the world's largest economy followed by the USSR, Japan, Germany and China. The gross domestic product of India in 1975 was estimated at about 5 per cent that of the USA..

Before independence a large share of tax revenue was generated by the land tax, which was in effect a lump sum tax on land. Since then land taxes have steadily declined as a share of revenues and completely replaced by sales taxes.

Moreover, the structural economic problems inherited at independence were exacerbated by the costs associated with the partition of British India, which had resulted in about 2 to 4 million refugees fleeing past each other across the new borders between India and Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
. The settlement of refugees was a considerable financial strain. Partition also divided India into complementary economic zones. Under the British, jute
Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae....
 and cotton
Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
 were grown in the eastern part of Bengal
Bengal

Bengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent sovereign nation of the Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India, although some regions of the previous kingdoms of Bengal are now part of the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Oris...
, the area that became East Pakistan (after 1971, Bangladesh
Bangladesh

, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
), but processing took place mostly in the western part of Bengal, which became the Indian state of West Bengal
West Bengal

West Bengal is a States and territories of India in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal....
 in 1947. As a result, after independence India had to employ land previously used for food production to cultivate cotton and jute for its mills.

India's leaders -- especially the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru The son of the wealthy Indian barrister and politician Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left-wing of the Indian National Congress at a remarkably young age....
, who introduced the five-year plans
Five-Year Plans of India

The economy of India is based in part on Planned economy through its five-year plans, developed, executed and monitored by the Planning Commission ....
 -- agreed that strong economic growth
Economic growth

Economic growth is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economics over time. It is conventionally measured as the percent rate of increase in real gross domestic product, or real GDP....
 and measures to increase incomes and consumption among the poorest groups were necessary goals for the new nation. Giving utmost importance to the economy, Nehru appointed R. K. Shanmukham Chetty
R. K. Shanmukham Chetty

Sir R. K. Shanmukham Chetty was an economist. Chetty graduated from the prestigious Madras Christian College . He became the first finance Political minister of India after it became Indian Independence Movement in 1947....
, a person who did not participate in the mainstream Indian Independence Movement
Indian independence movement

The term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both Nonviolent and Revolutionary movement for Indian independence philosophy....
 as the finance minister, since he believed that more than ideology, having the right person in the right job was important.

Government was assigned an important role in the process of alleviating poverty, and since 1951 a series of plans had guided the country's economic development. Although there was considerable growth in the 1950s, the long-term rates of real growth were less positive than India's politicians desired and much less than those of many other Asian countries.

Nehru's industrial policies were intended to encourage the growth of diverse manufacturing and heavy industries, yet because of state planning, controls and regulations the result was impairment of productivity, quality and profitability. The Indian economy lumbered along with an anemic rate of growth, and chronic unemployment amidst entrenched poverty continued to plague the population.

Toward the end of Nehru's term as prime minister, India would continue to face serious food shortages despite hoped for progress and increases in agricultural production. There was mass starvation in states like Bihar due to socialist controls on the economy. Farmers as well as industrialists were ham-strung with controls (License Raj) on their freedom to run their respective businesses.

Despite such atrocious conditions in the country Nehru's popularity remained unaffected because of the larger-than-life image and the personality cult that was promoted by the state controlled mass media. In a way, this was a testament to the stoic and unshakeable Indian character and the people's miraculous ability to endure and take into stride unimaginable difficulties.

Since 1950, India ran into trade deficits that increased in magnitude in the 1960s. The Government of India had a budget deficit problem and therefore could not borrow money from abroad or from the private sector, which itself had a negative savings rate. As a result, the government issued bonds to the RBI, which increased the money supply, leading to inflation. In 1966, foreign aid, which was hitherto a key factor in preventing devaluation of the rupee was finally cut off and India was told it had to liberalise its restrictions on trade before foreign aid would again materialise. The response was the politically unpopular step of devaluation accompanied by liberalisation. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between India and Pakistan....
 led the US and other countries friendly towards Pakistan to withdraw foreign aid to India, which further necessitated devaluation. Defence spending in 1965/1966 was 24.06% of total expenditure, the highest in the period from 1965 to 1989. This, accompanied by the drought of 1965/1966, led to a severe devaluation of the rupee
Indian rupee

The rupee is the currency of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The most commonly used symbols for the rupee are Rs, ? and ??....
.

grew 33% in the Sixties reaching a peak growth of 142% in the Seventies, decelerating sharply back to 41% in the Eighties and 20% in the Nineties.

From FY 1951 to FY 1979, the economy grew at an average rate of about 3.1 percent a year in constant prices, or at an annual rate of 1.0 percent per capita (see table 16, Appendix). During this period, industry
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
 grew at an average rate of 4.5 percent a year, compared with an annual average of 3.0 percent for agriculture. Many factors contributed to the slowdown of the economy after the mid-1960s, the main one was the socialist policies pursued by Nehru and his cabinet. They managed to tamp down on the natural business acumen and abilities of the population, yet some economists differed over the relative importance of those factors.

Structural deficiencies, such as the need for institutional changes in agriculture and the inefficiency of much of the centrally directed industrial sector, also contributed to economic stagnation. Some other excuses that were generally offered were - War with China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 in 1962 and with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971; a flood of refugees from East Pakistan in 1971; droughts in 1965, 1966, 1971, and 1972; currency devaluation in 1966; and the first world oil crisis
1973 oil crisis

The 1973 oil crisis started on October 15, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S....
, in 1973-1974, all jolted the economy.

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of India at market prices by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. See also .
Year Gross Domestic Product
1950 99,340 4.79
1955 108,730 4.79
1960 171,670 4.77
1965 276,680 4.78
1970 456,770 7.56
1975 832,690 8.39


Lawrence H. Officer, "Exchange rate between the United States dollar and forty other countries, 1913 -1999." Economic History Services, EH.Net, 2002. URL: http://eh.net/hmit/exchangerates/

The Union government treasury reported annual revenue of £5-6 billion in 1975 thus registering a average annual growth of almost 12 per cent during the third quarter of 20th century. Nevertheless, prime minister Indira proclaimed emergency and suspended the Constitution in 1975.

About one-fifth of the national population were urban by 1975.

Economic liberalization

are very lightly regulated.]]

Economic liberalization in India
Economic liberalization in India

The economic liberalization in India fix to ongoing reforms in Economy of India.After Independence in 1947, India adhered to socialist policies. The extensive regulation was sarcastically dubbed as the "License Raj", while the slow growth rate was dubbed as the "Hindu rate of growth"....
 in the 1990s and 2000s led to large changes in the economy.

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product and foreign trade of India at market prices by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. See also .
Year Gross Domestic Product Exports Imports Inflation Index (2000=100)
1980 1,380,334 90,290 135,960 7.86 18
1985 2,729,350 149,510 217,540 12.36 28
1990 5,542,706 406,350 486,980 17.50 42
1995 11,571,882 1,307,330 1,449,530 32.42 69
2000 20,791,898 2,781,260 2,975,230 44.94 100


Lawrence H. Officer, "Exchange rate between the United States dollar and forty other countries, 1913 -1999." Economic History Services, EH.Net, 2002. URL: http://eh.net/hmit/exchangerates/

About one-fourth of the national population were urban by 2000.

2000 - Present

The gross domestic product of India in 2007 was estimated at about 8 per cent that of the USA.

National Democratic Front led by BJP, was in helm of economic affairs from 1998-2004. During this period there were two finance ministers, viz., Yashwant Sinha (1998-2003) and Jaswant Singh (2003-2004). The main economic achievement of the government was the universal license in telecom field, which allows CDMA license holders to provide GSM services and vice versa. NDA started off the Golden Quadrilateral
Golden Quadrilateral

The Golden Quadrilateral is the largest express highway project in India launched by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.It is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project , and consists of building 5,846 kilometres of four/six lane express highways connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai , at a cost of Rs....
 road network connecting main metros of Delhi
Delhi

Delhi , sometimes referred to as Dilli , is the List of most populous cities in India metropolis in India and, with over 11 million residents, the List of metropolitan areas by population....
, Chennai
Chennai

Chennai , formerly Indian renaming controversy , is the fourth largest metropolitan area of India and the capital city of the Indian states and territories of India of Tamil Nadu....
, Mumbai
Mumbai

Mumbai— formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper has approximately 14 million people and, along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, Mumbai forms the World's largest urban agglomerations according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report with around 19...
 and Kolkata
Kolkata

, Indian renaming controversy , is the Capital of the Indian States and territories of India of West Bengal. It is located in East India on the east bank of the River Hooghly....
. The project, still under construction, was one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of independent India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. Simultaneously, North-South and East-West highway projects were planned and construction was started.

Education for all is still an unrealised dream in India. This was made a fundamental right by amending the constitution of India and huge amount of money was pumped into the project under the name of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

The 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan' is a flagship programme of the Government of India for achievement of universalization of elementary education in a time bound manner, as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children of ages 6-14 a fundamental right....
. This project met with limited success. Graduate unemployment
Graduate unemployment

Graduate unemployment is unemployment among people with an academic degree. Research study undertaken proved that the unemployment, and much more so, the underemployment...
 was estimated at 34 million nationwide.

Currently, the economic activity in India has taken on a dynamic character which is at once, curtailed by creaky infrastructure , cumbersome justice system, dilapidated roads, severe shortages of power and electricity yet at the same time accelerated by the sheer enthusiasm and ambition of the industrialists and the populace. The upward economic cycle in India is expected in short time to effectively address the short comings and bottlenecks of the infrastructure. The fast changing, seemingly chaotic and unsettled situation is much more hopeful and reassuring than the socialist morass that was the Nehru and Indira Gandhi legacy.

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product and foreign trade of India at market prices by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. See also .
Year Gross Domestic Product Exports Imports Inflation Index (2000=100)
2000 20,791,898 2,781,260 2,975,230 44.94 100
2005 34,195,278 44.09 121


Lawrence H. Officer, "Exchange rate between the United States dollar and forty other countries, 1913 -1999." Economic History Services, EH.Net, 2002. URL: http://eh.net/hmit/exchangerates/

For purchasing power parity comparisons, the US Dollar is exchanged at 9.46 Rupees only.

Despite steady growth and continuous reforms since the Nineties, Indian economy is still mired in bureaucratic hurdles from coast to coast. This was confirmed by a World Bank report published in late 2006 ranking Pakistan (at 74th) well ahead of India (at 134th) based on ease of doing business

The Union government treasury reported annual revenue of £51-52 billion in 2005 thus registering a average annual growth of almost 22 per cent since 2000. India imported about 85 per cent of oil and 15 per cent of gas consumption by 2005.

See also

  • Timeline of the economy of India
    Timeline of the economy of India

    Pre-colonial period 5 BC* Silver punch-marked coins were minted by the Mahajanapadas1* India's economy had a 32.9% share of world income, the largest in the world....
  • History of agriculture in India
    History of agriculture in India

    Indian agriculture began by 9000 BCE as a result of early cultivation of plants, and domestication of crops and animals. Settled life soon followed with implements and techniques being developed for agriculture....
  • List of countries by past GDP (PPP)
    List of countries by past GDP (PPP)

    These are lists of regions and countries sorted by their estimated Real versus nominal value gross domestic product in terms of purchasing power parity , the value of all final goods and services produced within a country/region in a given year.....
  • List of countries by past GDP (nominal)
    List of countries by past GDP (nominal)

    This is a list of the country of the world in order of Gross domestic product , based on exchange rates, not on purchasing power parity. Values are given in Million USDs....
  • Rajnarayan Chandavarkar
    Rajnarayan Chandavarkar

    Rajnarayan Chandavarkar , was a Reader in the History and Politics of South Asia and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge....
     historian


Bibliography

Articles
  • Dr. Nupam P. Mahajan, (1999) . Retrieved Feb. 24, 2005.


Books
  • Adam Smith
    Adam Smith

    Adam Smith was a Scotland Ethics and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations....
    , The Wealth of Nations
    The Wealth of Nations

    An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of the Scotland economist Adam Smith. It is a clearly written account of economics at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, as well as a rhetorical piece written for the generally educated individual of the 18th century - advocating a free market econom...
    .
  • Jawaharlal Nehru
    Jawaharlal Nehru

    Jawaharlal Nehru The son of the wealthy Indian barrister and politician Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left-wing of the Indian National Congress at a remarkably young age....
    , The Discovery of India
    The Discovery of India

    The Discovery of India was written by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during his imprisonment in 1942-1946 at Ahmednagar in the Ahmednagar Fort....
  • Max Weber
    Max Weber

    Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Germany, Weber became a lawyer, politician, scholar, political economy, and sociology....
    , The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism
    Max Weber

    Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Germany, Weber became a lawyer, politician, scholar, political economy, and sociology....
  • Micklethwait, John & Wooldridge, Adrian (2003). The Company: a short history of a revolutionary idea. Modern library chronicles. ISBN 0-679-64249-8.
  • Sankaran, S (1984). Indian Economy: Problems, Policies and Development (7th ed. (1994)). Margham Publications.
  • Datt, Ruddar & Sundharam, K.P.M. (1965). Indian Economy (51st Revised ed. (2005)). S.Chand. ISBN 81-219-0298-3.
  • Limca Book of Records (1993). Bisleri Beverages Limited. ISBN 81-900115-6-1.


Papers
  • Khanna, Vikramaditya S. (2005). University of Michigan
    University of Michigan

    The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan is a public university research university located in the state of Michigan. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan, which also includes two regional campuses in University of Michigan-Flint and University of Michigan-Dearborn....
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  • Pearce, H. Thomas (Spring 2003). .


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