INDIA INDUSTRIAL-DEVELOPMENT - AN INTERPRETATIVE SURVEY

In recent years there has been a significant shift in Indian industria l strategy, from a heavily regulated and inward-oriented structure tow ard significant liberalization in both domestic and trade policy. At t he same time, Indian industry has sustained its historically impressiv e growth performance. The two waves of liberalization - in the 1980s a nd after 1991 - have been associated with significant structural chang e. There is some question, however, as to whether this change in strat egic orientation is consistent with rising per capita incomes. This pa per reviews these changing strategic perspectives and the economic per formance of the industrial sector in the post-Independence period. It concludes that most studies which have been undertaken of Indian indus trialization have been macroeconomic in nature and that there has been a poor tradition of microeconomic research into the determinants of i ndustrial competitiveness. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.