Regulation and Development

This comprehensive analytical study of the evolution ofindustrial policy in India documents how, over a period of time, the original content and purpose of various policy initiatives were rendered meaningless. The author shows how the acute shortage of foreign exchange in the sixties and seventies in India and the administrative responses to it were among the main causes of the distortion in the policy perspective.

The author's main finding is that, once the industrial system veered towards regulation rather than development, it acquired a momentum of its own. A convergence of interests developed between politicians, bureaucrats and a powerful section of industrialists. These vested interests, operating at different levels, developed a major stake in perpetuating the system. In conclusion, Professor Marathe argues in favour of the need to move away from the traditional policy perspectives.