Journey of Nation Years of Indian Economy Remerge, Reinvest, Re-engage

by Sanjaya Baru

As India celebrates 75 years of Independence, it is important to recall that as a democratic republic, it has been able to overcome the burden of colonialism and emerge as the world’s third-largest economy.

Sanjaya Baru, economist and political analyst, traces the nature of this transformation, introducing the ideas and events that have shaped economic policy, transforming a feudal, agrarian economy into a modern, industrial and services-based one. He introduces to a young audience of millennials the roleplayed by the drain of wealth under British colonial rule on nationalist thinking and post-Independence policy. He explains how Indian political and intellectual leaders influenced policy with regard to agrarian relations, industrialization and the creation of a knowledge-based economy. Baru offers aringside view of the historic 1991 reform programme and its role in defining India’s development trajectory in the twenty-first century.

75Years of Indian Economy is a part of the series Journey of a Nation. This book is written for a general audience that wishes to be informed about the nature of India’s economic transformation over the past 75 years. India’s economic rise as a secular, plural democracy holds great value for the entire world.

‘The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed a significant transformation of the economy. There was a perceptible reduction in poverty, a rapid spread of urbanization and the establishment of a globally competent services economy. India led the world in the production of several agricultural commodities. However, the manufacturing sector remained a laggard, despite the launch of a new “manufacturing strategy” by the Manmohan Singh government in 2012 that was subsequently modified and relaunched as the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat programmes by the Narendra Modi government.’

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

186 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2022

About the author

Sanjaya Baru is an Indian political commentator and policy analyst, currently serving as Director for Geo-Economics and Strategy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Previously he had served as associate editor at The Economic Times and The Times of India, and then chief editor at Business Standard. His father B. P. R. Vithal served as Finance and Planning Secretary during former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's stint as Secretary of Finance. Before he became a journalist, he was a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) when he was a student at University of Hyderabad. He became Manmohan Singh's media advisor and chief spokesperson, a role in which he served from May 2004 until August 2008. In April 2014, Penguin India published The Accidental Prime Minister, Baru's tell-all memoir about his time at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). In it, Baru alleges that the prime minister was completely subservient to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who wielded significant influence in the running of the Singh administration, including the PMO itself. The book has sparked off a controversy, with the PMO officially denouncing it as "fiction". Baru, however, has said that he set out to show an empathetic portrait of the prime minister.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Swapna Peri ( Book Reviews Cafe ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Sanjay Baru, an editor of The Financial Express and Business Standard, media advisor to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, and director for Geo-economics and Strategy, International Institute of Strategic Studies, London, is also taught at the University of Hyderabad, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore and the Indian School of Public Policy, New Delhi.

With his vast knowledge in the field of economics, published by Rupa Publications, Sanjay Baru has written this book commemorating India’s Economic Journey – for 75 years! The book is written in primary language that will help students of economics apart from non-fiction readers. This book by Baru has 14 chapters, each focusing on key ideas and events that have shaped Indian economic policy and its impact. The facts in the book are relevant to the story of India’s economic resurgence. At the same time, the title suggests that India is a country that is re-emerging as a strong economy.

As stated in one of the leading newspapers, through his latest book, author Sanjaya Baru has outlined the 75-year journey of an independent India’s economic rise—a journey that started even before its independence.

[Sankalp Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an Economics Graduate, I was looking for something that represents the India's Economic History while we celebrate India@75. Sanjaya Baru's Book aims to address the historical underpinnings that has led India to 2022. Doing away with Economic jargons and heavy handed terminologies, Baru has precisely addressed the Book to the Generation called 'Millenials' and 'Gen Zs'. Very concise and succinct in describing the economic history in around 150 pages.

[Sameer Gudhate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books arrive like history textbooks. This one walked in like an elder at a family gathering — the kind who has lived through storms, celebrated quiet victories, and now leans forward with a twinkle that says, “Let me tell you a story. Our story.” I opened Sanjaya Baru’s Journey of a Nation: 75 Years of Indian Economy expecting charts and chapters. What I got instead felt like sitting across a wooden café table with someone who had watched a nation rise from the dust of colonialism and didn’t want that memory — or that miracle — to fade.

Baru, after all, isn’t just another economic commentator. He has been a teacher, a columnist, a policy insider, and at one point, a quiet voice behind the prime minister’s office door. He knows where the bodies are buried, where the seeds were sown, and where the roads cracked. And what he delivers here is not a dry retelling of India’s economic milestones but a warm, lucid conversation about how a fractured, hungry, newly independent country reshaped itself into a global force without ever losing its democratic soul.

The book traces India’s journey from the heartbreaking drain of wealth under British rule to the post-Independence tug-of-war between three competing visions — the Bombay Plan with its private-sector optimism, the Soviet-inspired People’s Plan, and the village-centric Gandhian Plan. That tension, Baru shows, wasn’t a flaw but a crucible: it forced India to dream in multiple directions, to argue, to improvise, to survive. Reading the early chapters felt like opening an old photo album — sepia, grainy, yet strangely intimate.

Baru’s writing is surprisingly nimble: simple without being simplistic, sharp without cutting, honest without sounding jaded. He compresses decades into paragraphs but leaves breathing room — almost like pausing mid-sentence to sip tea and let a memory settle. There’s a rhythmic clarity to his storytelling, especially when he moves through India’s three distinct growth eras: the frustrating but formative 3.5% crawl, the cautious 5.5% stride, and the energetic 7.5% leap. At one point, I found myself rereading a passage simply because it felt like listening to an elder reflect on a once-impossible dream becoming everyday life.

The ideas in the book — from the evolution of planning to the arc of liberalization — are presented not as abstract policies but as living, breathing decisions shaped by personalities, fears, and hopes. One moment that lingered with me long after I closed the book was Baru’s exploration of how the 1991 reforms didn’t emerge from ideological conviction alone but from necessity — a nation backed into a corner choosing courage over collapse. It made me think of how often in life we wait for crisis to push us into reinvention.

The structure is compact, almost brisk, but never rushed. Baru selects turning points with a curator’s eye: the leftward drift of the 1970s, the manufacturing disappointments that haunt us still, the dazzling rise of services, and the uneasy coexistence of poverty alleviation and human development gaps. And then he drops a jewel — Chapter 14 — an unexpectedly gripping exploration of “Comprehensive National Power,” where economic capability stands shoulder-to-shoulder with military strength, population, energy security, technology, and diplomacy. It’s a rare chapter that reframes how a nation measures its worth, and it may be the most forward-looking part of the entire book.

Reading this book made me pause often — sometimes to admire how far we’ve travelled, sometimes to wince at opportunities lost. It reminded me that India’s story is not one of linear triumphs but of pendulum swings, recalibrations, and quiet resilience. Our economic rise wasn’t engineered in boardrooms alone; it was shaped by farmers, factory workers, scientists, teachers, small traders — millions of everyday citizens fuelled by stubborn hope.

If I had to nitpick, I would say the slim volume occasionally feels like it’s speeding past moments that deserved a seat at the table — the Green Revolution, for example, or the emotional aftermath of the 1960s crises. But those omissions never dilute the book’s purpose: this is an introduction, a doorway, a spark for young Indians who deserve to understand the soil they stand on.

By the time I reached the final pages — and Tagore’s timeless prayer — I felt something unexpected: gratitude. Gratitude for the clarity, for the honesty, and for the reminder that India’s economy is not a cold machine but a living organism shaped by dreams, failures, and endless reinvention.

If you want to understand where we come from, where we stumbled, and where we might go next, pick this book up. Let it speak to you. Let it surprise you. Let it awaken, even for a moment, that quiet pride that whispers, “We have come a long way… and the journey is far from over.”

[Shibajee Samaddar · Rating 4 out of 5]

He says this book is for laymen but in my opinion it is not. I have studied Economics & can say that many things have to be taken for granted if you have studied something else. For me, its like feel in the blanks of a standard textbook. Its concise but not all encompassing. It has Sanjaya’s political preferences! So beware of that too.

[Nikita Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A balanced, objective, easily comprehendible story of Indian economy! Must read for all.

[Asheesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very good and readable book. Very informative.

[Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief, clear, concise and simple narration of How indian economy shaped, lived, survived post colonial impact, war impact, sanctions, geopolitical, and most importantly governmental changes policy restructuring policy remaking its implementation along with its implications and also thriving on good decision but paying for wrong ones as well. Good book to understand, it's not easy to understand how a big nation works internally and how one decision or a political gambit talen without economic consideration can change the future of millions.

[Abhishek Lodhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Journey...
Presently not even completed reading the book 25% but already mesemrized the way the archtitects of independent India paves the way for our economic development. The 5 year plans, The Bombay Plan and many other economic policies were far ahead of their time and it includes development at all fronts and development of all as a Nation.

Enjoying it ....!!!

Completed:

It's a very crisp and precise account of our Nation's journey in the past 75 years. A must read !!