The Indian Economy Introduced
India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Although to be fair they do have the the most room for growth as they are one of the poorest nations in the world. The shocking thing is that despite being one of the poorest countries in the world they are still one of the top ten economies in terms of GDP. The reason for this is obviously the massive population. This is both a blessing and a serious obstacle to growth. The huge population means that the country will soon be a dominant player on the global stage. The problem is that even when this happens there will still be a very large number of very poor people. In order to bring everybody up to a western standard of living is going to take massive growth.
For most of its history since independence India has had a socialist economy in which most of the industry was heavily controlled by the government. However in the early nineties this led to a serious financial problem. In particular a balance of payments problem as the result of their protectionist trade policy. Since then the government has made an effort to emphasis free enterprise and foreign trade. This is what set the country on its course to become one of the world's fastest growing economies. There is however still a long way to go. There is still an excessive amount of regulation involved in running a business.
The Indian economy like most rapidly developing countries is an odd combination of the high tech with old fashioned agriculture. A large percentage of the population continue to earn their living through farming in the traditional method. At the same time there is a thriving high tech industry particularly in the field of computer technology. There is also a strong manufacturing sector in the country. Obviously this leads to a pretty uneven distribution of wealth. There is also a very uneven distribution of wealth from one region to another. This creates a number of problems especially given the complicated political situation that exists in India due to the number of different cultures and religions that exist in the country.
While India clearly has a bright future there are a number of issues that need to be overcome before the country becomes a dominant economic power. These would include a shortage of resources, a lack of infrastructure and a very complex political landscape. However on the positive side India has an excellent education system and that has allowed it to move into the world of high tech products. However like most things in India this is very unevenly distributed. This may be the biggest issue that the Indian economy faces, spreading the wealth so that the majority of people can benefit. Unless this happens it is going to be hard for India to reach its economic potential.