Falling behind and catching up: India's transition from a colonial economy

Abstract

India fell behind during colonial rule. The absolute and relative decline of Indian GDP per capita with respect to Britain began before colonization and coincided with the rise of the textile trade with Europe. However, the fortunes of the traditional textile industry cannot explain the decline in the eighteenth century and stagnation in the nineteenth century as India integrated into the global economy of the British Empire. Inadequate investment in agriculture and consequent decline in yield per acre stalled economic growth. Modern industries emerged and grew relatively fast. The reversal began after independence. Policies of industrialization and a green revolution in agriculture increased productivity in agriculture and industry. However, India's growth in the closing decades of the twentieth century has been led by services. A concentration of human capital in the service sector has origins in colonial policy. Expenditure on education prioritized higher education, creating an advantage for the service sector. At the same time, the slow expansion of primary education lowered the accumulation of human capital and put India at a disadvantage in comparison with the fast‐growing economies of East Asia.

Railways and cities in India

“…There exists a tension between two sets of results in this literature. On the one hand, indicators of economic development such as income per capita, real wages, and industrialization suggest that India's development stagnated or even declined for much of the colonial period (Gupta, 2019;Broadberry et al, 2015;Broadberry and Gupta, 2006;Allen et al, 2011;Clingingsmith and Williamson, 2008). This has led many to question whether the actions taken by India's British rulers promoted economic development.…”

Representasi Kritik Sosial dalam Film ‘The White Tiger’ (Analisis Semiotika Roland Barthes)

“…Mengutip dari BBC, sekolah swasta di India memiliki biaya yang lebih tinggi dibandingkan pendapatan rata-rata masyarakat India. Sedangkan, kualitas pengajaran hingga kebersihan di sekolah negeri sangat minim (Gupta & Morris, \2021). Data dari National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) pada tahun 2014 bahkan menunjukkan 32 juta anak India berumur hingga 13 tahun belum pernah menghadiri pendidikan formal karena tingkat ekonomi yang rendah (Chopra, 2019).…”

Comparison of leading‐industrialisation and crossing‐industrialisation economic growth patterns in the context of sustainable development: Lessons from China and India

“…Therefore, China's economic growth pattern is characterised by 'three high and one low' (high input, high consumption, high pollution and low output), which has reduced the quality of the country's economic growth in reverse (Huang, Zheng, Yang, & Zang, 2012). In India, expenditure prioritized higher education can contribute to the economic growth pattern led by the service industry (Gupta, 2019). The human resource pool and natural resources coupled with significant innovation potential will give manufacturers incentives to focus their production on India (Pappas & Chalvatzis, 2017).…”