Open Online Seminar “Three Decades of India’s Economic Reforms: A Review of Development and Social Outcomes”

On April 13, 2023, an open online seminar was held at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs within the framework of the project "India and the challenges of Global Politics", which was devoted to the Three Decades of India’s Economic Reforms.

The speaker at the seminar was Dr. T.G. Suresh from Jawaharlal Nehru University, who spoke about the current economic situation in India.

At the beginning of the conference, the first word was given to the head of the School of International Regional Studies, Dr. Olga Volosyuk, who stressed the importance of the Indian direction not only for the faculty, but also for the expert community as a whole. The seminar was also attended by Dr. Olga Solodkova, Professor of the School of International Regional Studies, Dr. Alexey Zakharov, Research Fellow at the International Laboratory on World Order Studies and the New Regionalism, Dr. Olga Kharina, Research Fellow in the School of International Regional Studies, Maria Antasheva, intern researcher at the Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge.

Three decades is an extremely long time for any analysis. In this regard, the professor tried to divide his lecture into some sub-paragraphs for a deeper understanding of the problem. 1991 is considered the beginning of economic reforms, but this process was extremely slow for many reasons. Since 1991, India has undergone many changes in the political apparatus, constant changes of senior officials have made it difficult to make effective and, most importantly, quick decisions in the economy.

The professor also touched upon the private sector of business, which is directly related to economic development. In India, it was extremely underdeveloped due to predominantly state ownership, as mentioned earlier, it was difficult to start a business because of bureaucratic problems. However, when the reforms did affect its development through foreign investment and international business, private entrepreneurship took a step back due to insufficient competitiveness.

The current macroeconomic indicators demonstrate development and growth, but not everything is so simple. Positive trends do not reflect the full situation: there is a serious disconnect between economic and social development in the country.

The economic picture, according to the expert, was transformed by the IT business. The increase in the number of IT companies helped to form the middle class. It was possible to observe an increase in wages, as well as the number of people employed.

The development of new technologies is most often associated with a crisis in the agricultural sphere, which has happened in many countries, for example in China. However, Beijing was able to solve the situation more optimistically than New Delhi. It was necessary to ensure the availability of production facilities in poor areas where residents could find employment, but this did not happen in India.

In conclusion, Dr. T.G. Suresh gave two theses. First, if impressive macroeconomic growth is not coupled with effective policies, it will stimulate serious public discontent, and therefore intervention in public policy is necessary. And secondly, the development of the online market, which will continue in the coming years, will replace its traditional counterpart.

The seminar ended with a question and answer session.

This event is an output of a research project “India and the Challenges of Global Politics”, implemented as part of the HSE University Project Group Competition at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs.