1983-2011 Posted August 26, 2012 Posted August 26, 2012 Manmohan Singh is not a renowned orator. He delivers his public speeches in a monotonous undertone that one associates with college lecturers and bankers and India's prime minister has been both. But one of Singh's speeches, made exactly twenty years ago, will go down in the annals of Indian history as the one that changed India. In his maiden budget speech as the finance minister of India, Singh presented the finances of a country that was nearly bankrupt and slayed the licence raj, thereby changing the lives of not just India's 84 crore citizens then but those of another 36 crore citizens who have been born since. How much has India changed since then? Since 1991, India's GDP has quadrupled, its forex reserves have surged from $5.8 billion to $279 billion, and exports from $18 billion to $178 billion. But these are just numbers. The change in our lives and lifestyles is a lot more fascinating. Back in 1991, owning a Maruti 800 (Rs 1.48 lakh in Delhi) was a middle- class status symbol. Scooters like Bajaj Chetak and Lambretta accounted for more than half of the two-wheelers sold in the country. A bottle of soft drink, be it desi versions like Gold Spot or Thums Up, cost just Rs 4.50. Today, we are one of the consumption engines of the world as we are guzzling colas, downloading music on our iPads and zipping around in our sedans. The cola market is worth about Rs 10,000 crore, up from just Rs 200 crore in 1991. Scooters, like we knew them, are almost dead. And all of this change can be traced back to that speech that Singh made twenty years ago. Here's a quick look at the road we have travelled since then and the milestones we have crossed. We have used 1971 data, whenever available, to demonstrate an even more radical change. 1971 was Socialist India. 2011 is India, still with many problems, a flourishing market economy. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-07-24/news/29807511_1_market-economy-scooters-india-s-gdp#.UCthURfNOmg.email
superstar Posted August 26, 2012 Posted August 26, 2012 It is a lie Manmohan was responsible for this change. First the congress party ran us bankrupt. We had to get loans from all countries and even had to send gold to the world pawn shop. If they had brought in the black money this may not have been needed. Nonetheless with Russia broken, India had no one to lean to and was literally forced to open the economy by IMF and WB. If not we would have defaulted.
Swing_n_Speed Posted August 26, 2012 Posted August 26, 2012 Hmm fascinating! Great post OP. Now I need to get through all that reading............
gloryof83 Posted August 28, 2012 Posted August 28, 2012 Another way of looking at things... Biggest Scams / Scandals 1991: Bofors ~70 crores 2011: 2G and Coal scams alone cost us more than 2 lakh crores. Yet another way of looking at things Avg daily wage of a daily labourer 1991: Male - 50, Female - 35 2011: Male - 300, Female - 200
samcool Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 Exclusive Interview on Indian Economy with Anand Sharma Mr Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textile, Government of India shares his views on the recent economic reforms. Check out the view of Anand Sharma on Indian Economy ibef.org/resources/perspectives.aspx
AGHORI Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 We also witnessed the growth in Economy of our bowlers
CG Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 Yeah Indian economy has truly changed our netas has millions in swiss accounts then now they have billions.
maniac Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 We also witnessed the growth in Economy of our bowlers :cantstop:
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