Evidence1991
Economic liberalisation
North Block, New Delhi
Facing a balance-of-payments crisis, the Rao government devalues the rupee, scraps most industrial licensing and opens trade.
The rupee was devalued in two steps, on 1 and 3 July 1991. On 24 July a new industrial policy ended licensing for all but a short list of industries, and that evening Manmohan Singh closed his budget speech with Victor Hugo: no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.
Growth was faster in the three decades that followed. How much of the change began in 1991, rather than with the reforms of the 1980s, economists still argue.
- trade
- political