Growth and Development in Pre-reform Period
The first four decades of planning are characterized by rigid state control and regulation on economic activities. This period witnessed the syndrome of low savings–investment and low growth rate. This chapter makes a crtitical assessment of the features of planning and concludes that the state control and regulation retarded the growth rate in this period, especially in industries. Observing that the policies in this four-decade period traversed from forceful attempts by the state to capture the commanding heights of the economy and nationalization of private enterprises in the 1960s and 1970s to initiate measures to widen the scope of the private sector and extending its area of operation in economic activities in the 1980s, it goes on to detail some of the events, which placed the Indian economy on a sound footing despite the average growth rate being low.