Edward Elgar Publishing Economic Reform and the Liberalisation of the Indian Economy: Essays in Honour of Richard T. Shand

A decade after the implementation of the initial wave of economic reforms in India, the process of transforming the country into a fully developed market economy continues. A hallmark of the globalised economy is its ability to sustain competitive efficiency which, in turn, can lead to enhanced growth. This important new book gauges how far India has been successful in achieving this goal by implementing the correct economic reform measures. There is a severe lack of solid analytical evidence or rigorous scientific studies on the success of India's economic reforms. The expert authors attempt to redress this imbalance with a thorough analysis of key aspects of the state of the Indian economy since 1991. Keeping poverty reduction as the major objective, they comprehensively discuss and identify further reform measures which are vital in the monetary, fiscal and agriculture sectors in order to maintain and improve the momentum of growth. When compared with East Asian countries including China, India's lacklustre growth performance indicates that the task of reform is far from over. The authors argue that India needs to pursue its reform process much more vigorously at both the central and state levels in order to achieve its full growth potential. Providing a comprehensive assessment of the impact of economic reforms in India, this book will appeal to policymakers, researchers and students with an interest in developing economies. Political scientists as well as economists in the fields of liberalisation and international development will also find this an engaging and enlightening volume. Review '. . . contains a rich array of well-referenced empirical data, and the diversity of analytical perspectives make invaluable contributions. . . offers useful, up-to-date analyses of India's experience with liberalising reforms, and is sufficiently devoid of technical jargon to be accessible for scholars of whatever disciplinary background.' -- Martin Menski, Contemporary South Asia About the Author Edited by Kaliappa Kalirajan, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and Ulaganathan Sankar, Honorary Professor, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India