Indian Development Strategy: From Planning to Reforms

The first four decades of development strategy in India was characterized by the heavy regulation of the economy by the government. It was believed that the private sector in the economy either did not have the resources or the capacity and will to take on the big development projects needed to initiate development in a stagnant economy in the 1950s. However, by the late 1980s it was realized that the policies were not working and like many other countries India too switched gears from a Planned economic model to a one based on the primacy of the Markets and the private sector. The government, since the 8th Five Year Plan to the 12th Five Year Plan moved from a heavy-handed economic planning to an Indicative Planning. The centrality of the growth process is now well established in the development literature and the policy circles. Economic growth is now considered to be the primary driver of the development process with the state playing a redefined in the economy since the 1990s. The current development strategy combines a fine balance between the state and the market.