Industrial growth in India: Performance and prospects

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyse the trends in industrial growth since the mid-fifties and examine the factors that contributed to industrial stagnation after the mid-sixties. More specifically, the paper focuses on the pathology of the organised industrial sector while also documenting the broad trends in the unorganised sector. Section 1 presents a brief review of the long-term trends in the growth of value added and productivity in the industrial sector. Section 2 analyses the major factors that contributed to the dual phenomenon of a slowdown in the growth of heavy industries and continued slow growth of consumer goods industries after the mid-sixties. In the light of this analysis, an attempt is made in section 3 to draw some implications for policy if industrial growth is to be revived in the future.