Aspects of India’s Economic Growth and Reforms

R Nagaraj, a development economist well-known for his research and analytical writings on industrial development, economic growth and reforms in India, has compiled the present volume, offering readers some of his important writings on the subject. Studies included in this volume, carried out over a decade, represent an effort to grapple with a few contemporary issues of economic growth, industrial change and policy initiatives in India. These studies are motivated by the desire to carefully examine some of the widely held propositions on the aggregate and sectoral economic performance, premises of a few reform measures and the outcome of some aspects of the economic reforms initiated in the 1990s. The crisp Introduction by the author provides a brief background to these studies, situates them in the relevant literature and indicates how they contributed to the ongoing discourse on economic analysis and policy. The two abiding concerns in these studies are (i) to examine the quality of statistics employed as they could have a bearing on research findings and their interpretation, and (ii) to provide analyses of a relatively long period to eschew hasty inferences from limited observations. The 12 chapters included in this volume are thematically arranged under three sections as outlined below: Part I (Macroeconomic Performance) consists of three chapters seeking to document economic growth and distribution during the last two decades and the effect of the policy reforms on the aggregate and sectoral performance. Part II (Industrial Growth) comprising four chapters, focuses on the growth of the manufacturing sector and factors influencing it. Part III (Some Aspects of Economic Policy) has five chapters that deal with a few specific aspects of the economic policy: two of them are concerned with the public sector and one each with the industrial labour market, capital market and inward foreign direct investment. Aspects of India’s Economic Growth and Reforms promises to be a valuable reference for all concerned-students, economists and policymakers alike.