Industrial policy in India since independence

This paper provides a comprehensive analytical account of the major industrial policies in India since independence. It identifies three phases: 1948–1980, a period characterised by increasing state intervention; 1980–1991: a transitional period of gradual reforms; and 1991–2020: a period of extensive market-oriented reforms. Within each period, it reviews the major policy changes, and discusses possible reasons for their adoption. It also provides a brief account of industrial performance during each phase, and a more detailed review of how those policies have been evaluated by scholars from different perspectives. The discussion is supplemented by simple explanations for some economic theories and empirical methods that have been used in the literature. The review concludes with an eclectic perspective on the record of industrial policy, and some suggestions for the future.