INTRODUCTION‌

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any of the western economies have already written their success stories of industrialisation leading to accelerated growth and development by

the time India became an independent economy. Independent India needed to

rejuvenate its economy from a completely dilapidated state. The country had many tasks in front of it—the abject mass poverty, shortage of foodgrains, healthcare, etc., calling for immediate attention. The other areas of attention included industry, infrastructure, science and technology and higher education, to name a few. All these areas of development required heavy capital investment as they had been severly avoided by the colonial ruler for the last 150 years or so. Increasing the growth of the economy and that too with a faster pace was the urgent need of the economy. Looking at the pros and cons of the available options, India decided that the industrial sector should be the ‘prime moving force’ (PMF) of the economy—the logical choice for faster growth (a fully established idea at that time, the world over). The secondary sector will lead the economy, was well-decided in the 1930s itself by the dominant political forces among the freedom fighters.

As the government of the time had decided upon an active role for the governments in the economy, naturally, the industrial sector was to have a dominant state role—the expansion of the government-owned companies (i.e., the PSUs) to glorious heights. In many ways the development of the Indian economy has been the development of the government sector. Once this idea of state’s role in the economy went for a radical change in the early 1990s with the process of economic reforms, the hangover or the drag of it is still visible on the economy. The industrial policies which the governments announced from time to time basically moulded the very nature and structure of the economy. Any discussion on the Indian economy must start with a survey of the industrial policies of the country. Here we have a brief review of the various industrial policies of India till date.