Open AccessSharad S. Marathe. Regulation and Development: India's Policy Experience of Controls over Industry. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ud., 1989. 338 pp.Price Rs 95.00 (Softbound Edition).
Author(s) -
Sarfarz K. Qureshi
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v29i2pp.184-185
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , industrial policy , incentive , independence (probability theory) , state (computer science) , public sector , private sector , public policy , unintended consequences , intervention (counseling) , economics , business , political science , economic growth , economy , market economy , law , psychology , statistics , mathematics , algorithm , psychiatry , computer science , paleontology , biology
This book deals with an important but relatively littlediscussed aspect of industrial development in the context of adeveloping economy. The subject-matter chosen for analysis is that ofthe efficacy of controls over industry in India. The author provides adetailed and insightful analysis of the issue in its historical context,particularly since India's independence in 1947. Based on an insider'sexperience, the book makes an important contribution to the oftenneglected field of industrial policy. The central thesis advanced by theauthor is that the State has played a dominant role in industrialdevelopment by way of ownership and/or management of some of the keyindustries, the granting of industrial incentives, and an elaborate andcomplicated regulatory system. There have been shifts in emphasisbetween these three main instruments of state intervention in industrialdevelopment over time. Nonetheless, it is argued that currently Indianindustry is overregulated, public sector industries are mismanaged, andthe economic environment for the working of both private and publicsector industries is inimical to their efficient working and growth. Thebroad approach adopted provides for a discussion of objectives, policyinstruments, and the intended and unintended impact of differentinstruments of state intervention in industrial development. The widediscrepancy between the objectives and the results is shown to be amajor failing of the past industrial policies in the context of theIndian development experience.