75 Years of Growth, Development and Productivity in India

This edited volume documents through its 75 years post-independence, the developmental complexities, economic achievements and challenges unique to India, given its vast population and regional, cultural, and climatic diversities, with simple illustrations, making them accessible to readers with varying levels of expertise. Since gaining independence, the Indian economy has embarked on a distinctive journey, navigating through a series of economic policy experiments in diverse economic landscapes. This distinct trajectory has not only accelerated its pace of economic growth but also addressed a myriad of developmental issues, from poverty to well-being, with varied degrees of success over the years. The detailed analysis and anecdotal evidence are at the core to show how the country's experience and challenges are different from the linear model of development transition, and must be understood in their own context.

The academic papers, both theoretical and empirical, highlight the pace and patterns of sectoral dynamics since independence, unfold the issues and factors affecting development, with a particular focus on the productivity growth of the Indian economy, and showcase debates that may help planning policy for Vision@2047, the year when India would celebrate its centenary year of independence. The book contains 24 chapters divided into ten sections, covering issues related to growth strategies, productivity growth, agricultural transition, growth heterogeneity, labour, rural non-farm sector and migration, social sectors including education and environment, and debates on industrialisation and servicification – the principle features of Indian growth and development story. Given such diverse collection of chapters and discussions in them, the book will find readers across the developmental economics sphere ranging from academics to policy makers as well as industry experts.

Dibyendu Maiti is a Professor of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India, specialising in development macroeconomics and international economics, with a specific focus on labour, technology and the informal sector. In the past, he worked at the University of the South Pacific, Institute of Economic Growth Delhi, and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, as well as held various research positions at the University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, Max Planck Institute of Economics (Jena), Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, University of Oslo. He received the Max-Planck India Fellowship, and ICSSR-ESRC, ICSSR-CASS and ICSSR-JSPS exchange fellowships. He publishes research articles in reputed journals, like the Journal of Development Economics, International Journal of Economic Theory, Empirical Economics, Social Research Indicators, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Labour Economics, Economic Modelling, International Review of Economics and Finance, Cambridge Journal of Economics, American Behavioural Scientists, etc. Among other books he wrote and edited, Reform and Productivity Growth in India and Digitalisation and Development - India and Beyond are popular. He received the IDRC Young India Social Sciences Award in 2010 and the Global Development Network Award in 2009. He served as an associate editor of the journal Progress in Development Studies from 2018 to 2023. He has worked on research projects sponsored by ICSSR, WTO, ESRC, and DFID and serves national and international organisations as a consultant.

Bishwanath Goldar was with the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) since 1979 and a Professor from 1996 till his retirement in 2014. He has worked as a Senior Fellow at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) during 1988–90 and as a Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) during 2003–04. He also served as Visiting Professor at Centre for International Trade and Development, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) during 2012–13. He was a National Fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), affiliated with IEG, for two years in 2015 and 2016. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo and the Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo. Prof. Goldar studied at the Delhi School of Economics (DSE) for his Master and PhD. He taught Economics at the Shri Ram College of Commerce from 1971 to 1979 and then joined the Institute of Economic Growth. He specializes in industrial economics, environmental economics, and international trade and foreign investment. Most of his research has been on productivity and employment in Indian industries, price-cost margin and competitiveness of the Indian manufacturing industry, and exports. He has been associated with a number of important official committees, including the Chairman of the Standing Committee of Industrial Statistics (NSO), India. He has been a member of the National Statistical Commission. He is currently the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics (NSO).  For his outstanding career and contribution to the discipline, he was conferred the Distinguished Alumnae Award by the Delhi School of Economics in February 2018.

K.L. Krishna has served as Chairperson of the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Director of the Delhi School of Economics, Head of the Department of Economics, and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi. Professor Krishna was also Executive Director of the Centre for Development Economics, Founder and Managing Editor of the Journal of Quantitative Economics (published by Springer), and President of the Indian Econometric Society. He has been leading the India KLEMS Productivity project, funded by the Reserve Bank of India, as part of the World KLEMS Initiative since 2009. With post-graduate qualifications in Statistics from the University of Kerala and the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago and is an expert on econometrics, industrial economics, productivity economics, regional inequality and empirics of trade. He published numerous articles and books and has overseen the successful completion of over 40 PhD and MPhil dissertations, covering almost all important branches of economics.