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@article{187839,
        author = {Purvi Dutt and Tarishi Sojatia},
        title = {Understanding India’s Economic Performance: The 1980 Decade},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {6972-6974},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=187839},
        abstract = {This essay investigates the roots of India’s accelerated economic growth in the 1980s, challenging the dominant narrative that reforms in 1991 alone triggered India’s rise as a high-growth economy. While scholars such as Srinivasan and Tendulkar attribute growth to pro-market liberalization in the early 1990s, this paper emphasizes Atul Kohli’s argument that a distinct pro-business political shift in the 1980s had already laid the foundation for economic expansion. By analyzing changes in political ideology, state structure, and policy direction after Indira Gandhi’s return to power, the paper demonstrates how these reforms directly influenced investment patterns, labor productivity, and the broader business environment. Key developments included legislative relaxation, increased support for large domestic firms, dilution of labor militancy, and a strategic withdrawal from rigid socialist planning. The essay further shows how these transformations reshaped India’s long-term economic trajectory—strengthening private sector participation, fostering technological and infrastructural growth, and creating conditions later interpreted as “liberalization.” Ultimately, the analysis argues that India’s contemporary economic performance cannot be understood without recognizing the political and economic realignments of the 1980s, which initiated a sustained shift toward higher productivity and business-led growth.},
        keywords = {},
        month = {November},
        }