Tryst with Prosperity

In 1944, with independence still ahead and the shape of the future state undecided, eight leading Indian industrialists sat down to write a plan for the country's economy. Among them were J.R.D. Tata, G.D. Birla and Lala Shri Ram. Their document, known as the Bombay Plan, is the subject of this history by business historian Medha M. Kudaisya.

The targets were bold. The authors aimed to double per capita income within fifteen years, lift agricultural output by 130 per cent, and raise manufacturing by 500 per cent, while guaranteeing every person a minimum standard of living. At its heart was the idea that the Indian state and private enterprise would work as partners in building the economy.

That partnership did not last. About a decade later the same business leaders found themselves at odds with the Nehruvian establishment. Even so, the Bombay Plan left its mark on the national Five Year Plans and on the course India's economy took afterwards.

Kudaisya follows this episode as a key chapter in the history of Indian business, and argues that its legacy is still plainly visible in the economic life of India seventy-five years on.