State Level Reforms, Growth, and Development in Indian States

Most discussions of India's recent economic growth focus on progress and policies at the national level. But with a population of 1.2 billion, several of the states in India are larger than many of the countries in the world. Therefore, a more complete understanding of India's ongoing experiment in economic reforms requires a study at the state level.

State Level Reforms, Growth, and Development in Indian States provides the first-ever comprehensive analysis of growth and reforms in the highly diverse states of the country. The authors argue that when the national government loosened its controls on industry and services, state governments began shaping the fortunes of their citizens through state-level policy reforms, resulting in faster growth in every state over the last decade than any other decade in the post-independence era. In fact, some of the poorest states, notably Bihar and Odisha, have been growing the fastest.

Professors Panagariya and Chakraborty and Dr. Rao refute the common assumptions that growth has not occurred or that poverty has not been reduced in all Indian states. The recent reforms have also led to improved access in every state to basic amenities such as permanent houses, electricity, water, and sanitation. These accomplishments notwithstanding, regional inequality on a per capita basis has grown as well. The authors analyze the economic transformation that has taken place in the largest eighteen states of India and suggest reforms in areas of agriculture, industry, services and urbanization that can further accelerate this transformation. They also provide a comprehensive analysis of education and health in the states.

Arvind Panagariya is a Professor of Economics and Indian Political Economy at Columbia University, Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a former Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank. Panagariya has written prolifically on global trade policy issues and economic reforms in India. The author of a dozen books, he has also published technical papers in many leading journals and other publications. Professor Panagariya writes an influential monthly column in the Times of India and has been honored with the Padma Bhushan by India.

Pinaki Chakraborty is Economic Adviser to the Fourteenth Finance Commission of India. He is also Professor at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. He served as Fellow, Senior Economist, and Economist at NIPFP, New Delhi and as Associate Professor at the Centre for Development Studies. His research areas are macroeconomics and public finance, tax policy and reforms, and federalism and intergovernmental fiscal issues. He has published his research papers in both national and international journals.

Dr. M. Govinda Rao is a well known scholar in public finance in India. Presently, he is a Member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, Government of India. His past positions include Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi and Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore. Dr. Rao was also a Member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He has chaired and was a member of several committees. He has written extensive publications in referred journals in addition to his 14 books and monographs.