Slip, Stitch and Stumble

Manmohan Singh's speech of 1991 changed the trajectory of the Indian economy, especially its financial sector. His budget measures infused the Indian financial sector with a competitive element, sketching out a roadmap for it that promised a somewhat level playing field for both the state-owned and private financial intermediaries. But why these reforms? What were the motivations behind these reforms?This book answers these and many other such questions and focuses on the trajectory of financial sector reforms in India, given that they became the foundational basis for many other economic reforms. The strategy behind the financial sector reforms, and their design and structure, thus, had a direct bearing on the outcome of reforms in other segments of the economy. While this book does not purport to present a history of financial sector reforms, it demonstrates that many key reform initiatives were, by no means, part of a long and planned series of measures or integral components of a grand design. They were, instead, inspired by some immediate event, like a crisis or a scam.This book, therefore, narrates the untold story behind India s financial sector reforms and captures the transformation of a closed economy into one of the world's fastest growing economies.