POST GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN MANAGEMENT

2017 | Term 3
Indian Economy and Policy
Credits: 3
Course instructor: Saumen Majumdar
Email: saumen@iimtrichy.ac.in | Phone: 0431 2505011
Consultation hours: With prior appointment
Course Introduction:
This is third course in the suit of core economics courses offered during first year of post graduate
program. The course attempts to analyse Indian economic policies spanning from 1st century to
the colonial period and extending to the modern era. The course also tries to develop business
perspective of the Indian economic development over the years. The course builds on the basic
‘stylized facts’ of the Indian economy and discusses the debates around them.

Course Objectives:
The course discusses explicitly the economic reforms undertaken by different incumbent union
government overtime and dwells upon the impending and important economic reforms yet to be
undertaken. It also discusses the regulatory framework that will influence the Indian economy in
the future.
Pedagogy:
Twenty 1 ½ hours lectures including a maximum of two guest lectures of 3 hours each.

Course material:
Arvind Panagariya, India: The emerging giant, Oxford University Press, 2008. (AP)

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References

Anindya Sarkar, Arati Deshpande Mukherjee, M.K.Bera, B.Das, Navin Juyal, P.Morthekai,
R.D.Deshpande, V.S.Shinde and L.S.Rao. Oxygen isotope in archaeological bioapatites from
India: Implications to climate change and decline of Bronze Age Harappan civilization.
Scientific Reports Nature 6:26555 DOI: 10.1038/srep26555.

Cameron A. Petrie, Ravindra N. Singh, Jennifer Bates, Yama Dixit, Charly A. I. French, David
A. Hodell, Penelope J. Jones, Carla Lancelotti, Frank Lynam, Sayantani Neogi, Arun K.
Pandey, Danika Parikh, Vikas Pawar, David I. Redhouse, and Dheerendra P. Singh. Adaptation
to Variable Environments, Resilience to Climate Change: Investigating Land, Water and
Settlement in Indus Northwest India Current Anthropology. The University of Chicago Press
Journal. 2016. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/690112

Angus Maddison, The world economy Vol. 1 & 2, OECD, 2006 pp.110-119; 263 Accessed at
http://blogs2.lesechos.fr/IMG/pdf/Statistiques_historiques_OCDE_par_pays_depuis_1820.pdf

Barbara D. Metcalf & Thomas R. Metcalf, A Concise History of Modern India (Cambridge UP;
3rd ed., 2012)

Dwijendra Tripathi and Jyoti Jumani, The Oxford History of Contemporary Indian Business,
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013.

E. M. Forster, A Passage to India (HBJ; various editions)

Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, Why growth matters, New York: Public Affairs, 2014.

Nick Robins, The Corporation that changed the world, Orient BlackSwan, 2006.

Ramachandra Guha, INDIA after Gandhi (Picador, 2007)

Ricardo Hausmann, C.A.Hidalgo, et al. The Atlas of Economic Complexity.

Sumit Sarkar, Modern India (Macmillan India)

Thomas R Trautman, Arthashastra, The science of wealth, Penguin Books Ltd., 2012.

Tirthankar Roy, The Economic History of India 1857-1947, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 3rd
Edition, 2011.

Michel Danio, The Lost River – On the trail of the SARASVATI. Penguin Books, 2010.
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Shashi Tharoor, An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India.

Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History. Penguin
Random House India Pvt. Ltd. 2016.

Vahia MN, Yadav N, Ladiwala U, Mathur D (2017) A diffusion based study of population
dynamics: Prehistoric migrations into South Asia. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0176985.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176985

World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16

Movies

Clive of India

David Lean A Passage to India

Michael Wood The Story of India

Queen Victoria’s Empire

Richard Attenborough Gandhi

Satyajit Ray The Chess Players (Shatranj ki Khiladi)

Course prerequisites:
There are no pre-requisites, which may not imply tabula rasa, as prior knowledge of history will
be very helpful.

Evaluation scheme:
You are expected to participate in quizzes, write two individual critical commentaries (essays),
one group project report and one final project and present the same along with other seminar
presentations on important class topics. Apart from the graded course work, there will be mid-term
and end term examinations.

Quizzes and home assignments will have 10% weightage, essays 10%, group project 10%,
individual project 10%, mid-term 20%, end-term 30% and 10% on class participation.

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Session-wise course outline:
Lecture 1. Introduction to the course
The introductory lecture will give a brief outline of the course and delineate important stylized
facts with synchronized timeline.

Readings
Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Viking, 1978), pp. 1-28

Lallanji Gopal, Ownership of Agricultural Land in Ancient India Journal of the Economic and
Social History of the Orient Vol. 4, No. 3 (Dec., 1961), pp. 240-263

Aatish Taseer, “How English Ruined Indian Literature”, New York Times (March 19, 2015),
online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/how-english-ruined-indian-
literature.html

Lecture 2. Colonialism and development of the Indian economy

Has colonialism been a hindrance or encouragement towards fostering a cosmopolitan business
environment during the colonial period? Why did colonialism end, if it was gainful for some? How
did the nationalist struggle affect economic policy debates?

Readings
Tirthankar Roy, ‘Economic History and Modern India: Redefining the Link’, Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 16(3), 2002, 109-30.

William Dalrymple, ‘The East India Company: The original corporate raiders’ in The Guardian,
4th March, 2015. The audio long read

John F. Richards, “The Opium Industry in British India”, Indian Economic and Social History
Review 39, nos. 2-3 (2002), pp. 149-80.

Julia Lovell, The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of China (Picador USA, 2011):
Read Chapter One only, online (at amazon.co.in).

Lecture 3 & 4. De-industrialization of Indian economy

India’s share of world manufacturing output was as high as 25% and subsequently fell to as low
as 2% during the latter part of the colonial rule. What led to this drastic decline of industry?

Readings
Irfan Habib, Indian Economy, 1858-1914, Vol. 28 of A People’s History of India, Gen. ed. Irfan
Habib (New Delhi: Tulika Books/Aligarh Historians Society, 2012), pages TBA.

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David Clingingsmith and Jeffrey G. Williamson, ‘Deindustrialization in 18th and 19th Century
India: Mughal Decline, Climate Shocks and British Industrial Ascent’.

Irfan Habib, Colonialization of the Indian Economy, 1757 – 1900. Social Scientist 3(8):23-53.
1975.

Karl Marx, “The British Rule in India”, “The Future Results of British Rule in India”, in Karl
Marx on India, ed. Iqbal Husain (3rd ed., New Delhi: Tulika Books/Aligarh Historians Society,
2008), pp. 11-17, 46-51.

Thomas B. Macaulay, “Minute on Indian Education” [of 2 Feb. 1835], on the internet at:
http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/rraley/research/english/macaulay.html

Lecture 5. Business enterprises

Indian merchants had set up the first factories. Who were these industrial entrepreneurs? How did
they raise capital, manage knowhow? What were new, acquired, or indigenous in business
organization? It is often said that South Asian merchant-industrialists worked from within family
firms. Was this a survival of an inefficient tradition or an efficient adaptation to modern
conditions?

Readings
1. Dwijendra Tripathi, ‘Occupational Mobility and Industrial Entrepreneurship in India: A
Historical analysis’, The Developing Economies, 19(1), 1981, 52-68.
2. Ashok Desai, ‘The Origins of Parsi Enterprise’, in Indian Economic and Social History Review,
5(4), 1968, 7-17.
3. Thomas A. Timberg, ‘Three Types of Marwari Firms’, in Indian Economic and Social History
Review, 10(1), 1973, 13-36.

Lecture 6, 7 & 8. Growth and economic reforms

India has a unique growth trajectory. The growth trajectory shows correspondence with economic
reforms undertaken by democratic elected united governments over time. What are the broad
phases that distinguish economic growth in India? There were two broad groups of reforms: Track
I reforms for faster and broader growth and Track II reforms for more effective and inclusive
redistribution.

Readings
Chapter 1-6 of AP

M. Bronfenbrenner (1960). A Simplified Mahalanobis Development Model. Economic

Development and Cultural Change 9 (1): 45–51. doi:10.1086/449867. 1151921
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Pronab Sen (1991). Growth Theories and Development Strategies: Lessons from Indian
Experience. Economic and Political Weekly 26 (30): PE62–PE72. 41498498

Rajiv G Maluste, Endogenous origins of economic reforms in India and China – The role of
attitudinal changes (Florida, USA: Dissertation.com) pp.151-180.

Ashish Nandy, ‘Final encounter: The politics of the assassination of Gandhi’ in Exiled at home
Oxford University Press 2014.

Ashish Nandy, ‘Indira Gandhi and the culture of Indian Politics’ in Exiled at home Oxford
University Press 2014.

Chetan Ghate and Stephen Wright, “The ‘V-factor’: Distribution, timing and correlates of the great
Indian growth turnaround. Journal of Development Economics 99 (2012) 58-67.

Lecture 9. Poverty and Inequality

How the economic reforms influenced the persistent and prevalent poverty levels and inequality
among the Indian masses? Were they successful in bring the poverty ratios down? Has the Indian
society became more egalitarian over time?

Readings
Chapter 7 and 8 of AP.
Gardiner Harris, “Poor Sanitation in India May Afflict Well-Fed Children with Malnutrition”,
New York Times (13 July 2014), p. A1, online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/world/asia/poor-sanitation-in-india-may-afflict-
well-fed-children-with-malnutrition.html

Amartya Sen, “More than 100 Million Women are Missing”, New York Review of Books (20 December
1990); online at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3408;
see also the short exchange at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3117. And for more on the discussion, see
http://www.newint.org/issue240/facts.htm

Siddharth George and Arvind Subramanian, “Transforming the fight against poverty in India”,
New York Times (22 July 2015), online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/opinion/transforming-the-fight-against-poverty-in-
india.html?rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&con
tentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article

Arvind Panagariya and Megha Mukim, “A comprehensive analysis of poverty in India” Policy
Research working paper 6714. 2013. World Bank.
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Lydia Polgreen, “Scaling caste walls with capitalism’s ladders in India”, New York Times (21st
December, 2011)

Lecture 10, 11 & 12. Macroeconomic overview and Fiscal and Monetary Policy
The macroeconomic framework influences the fiscal and monetary policy of India. How effective
were these policies in the context of Indian economy?

Readings
Chapter 9 and 10 of AP.

Ministry of Finance, Draft Indian Financial of code, online at:

http://www.finmin.nic.in/suggestion_comments/Revised_Draft_IFC.pdf

Lecture 13 & 14. Financial sector performance and impending reforms

What are the key reforms in the financial sector those are yet to be undertaken? Will the
privatization of banks help to increase the performance of the banking sector in general? What is
needed to achieve financial inclusion for all?

Readings
Chapter 11 of AP.

Lecture 15. Economic reforms towards more liberalization

This lecture discusses impact of trade and foreign investment liberalization till date and on the
future course of the policy in these areas.

Readings
Chapter 12 of AP

Lecture 16, 17 & 18. Agriculture, industry and services.

Economic growth is the single most important instrument of poverty reduction. However, type of
growth matters for how much poverty reduction can be achieved. Rapid growth of unskilled labor
intensive sectors are more beneficial to India than capital and skilled labor intensive sectors for
India. What are the domestic policy reforms to reinvigorate agriculture, industry and services
sectors?

Readings
Chapter 13 and 14 of AP.

NITI Aayog, Government of India. Raising Agricultural Productivity and Making Farming
Remunerative for Farmers. 2015.
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NITI Aayog, Government of India. Report of the Expert Committee on Innovation and
Entrepreneurship. 2015.

Lecture 19. Government reforms and the emerging energy-economy-environment

regulatory framework
A uniform goods and service tax is one of the few big ticket reforms that will change the landscape
of indirect taxation in India. How to tackle the burgeoning subsidies in the budget? How to make
the physical and social sectors more efficient and what is the role of regulator in these sectors?

Readings
Chapter 15-20 of AP.

V.Patel, R.Parikh, et al. Assuring health coverage for all in India The Lancet Volume 386(10011):
2422-2435, 12 December 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00955-1

Alex Tabarrok and Shruti Rajagopalan “Designing Private Cities, Open to All” New York Times
(March 16, 2015) online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/opinion/designing-private-cities-open-to-all.html

Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submission by India on 2nd Oct, 2015 online
at:
http://www4.unfccc.int/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/India/1/INDIA%20INDC
%20TO%20UNFCCC.pdf

United Nations Conference of Parties 21st session Final draft of Adoption of Paris Agreement or
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2646001-Final-COP21-draft.html

Lecture 20. Conspectus

This lecture revisits the stylized facts outlined earlier and wraps up the course by highlighting
important learnings and take-aways.

Any other information:

All submissions (Home Assignments and critical commentaries) need to be type written using
Times New Roman 12 pts. The submissions should have appropriate references wherever
necessary.

Although the exams are closed book, you are allowed one cheat sheet during examinations. It has
to be attested by the invigilators before the start of the examination, and after completion of the
examination, it has to be attached to the answer scripts.
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The exams seek to test the recognition and retention abilities of the students. Accordingly, there
will be a section devoted to marking the correct choice in a True/ False format and other sections
with short answer types and/ or long essay type questions.

The group project will be presented by the students of the respective group and a common mark
will be awarded to all the members of the group while individual mark will be awarded to each
student based on his/ her answer to specific questions asked to him/ her after the presentation. A
printed copy of the presentation slides have to be submitted before the presentation. The first slide
of the presentation should have the name of the project and names of all the members of the group
with their respective roll numbers. The last slide of the presentation should have the details of the
author’s contribution in the following format (an illustrative example):

Author Contributions

1. Conceptualization: XX, YY.

2. Data curation: YY, ZZ.
3. Formal analysis: XX, YY, ZZ.
4. Investigation: YY, ZZ.
5. Methodology: XX, YY, ZZ.
6. Project administration: YY.
7. Resources: XX, ZZ.
8. Software: ZZ.
9. Supervision: XX, YY.
10. Validation: XX, YY, ZZ.
11. Visualization: ZZ.
12. Writing – original draft: XX.
13. Writing – review & editing: XX, YY, ZZ.

The final project contains two parts with detailed instructions below: (1) Preparing a video on a
particular economic problem facing the country, (2) Sharing the video online.

(1) Preparing a video on an important economic problem that India faces.

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For the first part of your final project, prepare a video no longer than 5 minutes that elaborates
upon a particular economic problem. The video should also outline ameliorative measures and a
timeline to implement them. It should also dwell on the barriers for implementing the measures
and some historical references of the issues discussed.

(2) Sharing the video online

For evaluation of your final project, you will submit a link to your short video to everyone in the
class to receive feedback from them. Please share your video online on a publicly accessible
platform. You should plan for it to remain online for at least two weeks so that it can be assessed.

Some online tools you could use to create and/or publish your short video are described below:

Youtube: Free video hosting and sharing website; anyone can upload videos for sharing them
publicly.

Vimeo: Free video hosting and sharing website; anyone can upload videos for sharing them
publicly.

Flickr: Free photo/image and video hosting and sharing website.

Voicethread: Online media sharing website (hosts images, documents and videos).

Animoto: Video creation service for anyone to create and share videos using their own pictures,
video clips, words and music.

Wikispaces: Web hosting service designed especially for educators. It offers a general public a
free version with basic features.

Ted-Ed: Free educational website for teachers and learners that includes a video library with
carefully curated educational videos that can easily be used as a basis to create a customized lesson.

Google Sites: Free and easy way to create and share web pages.

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