IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rehdxx/v32y2017i1p71-95.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Origins of Import Substituting Industrialization in India

Author

Listed:
  • Tirthankar Roy

Abstract

In the post-war world, India was one of the most protectionist countries. Protectionism originated in British colonial measures to design an industrialization policy in the 1920s. Whereas in the 1920s, protection was applied with discrimination, after independence in 1947, protection was offered without discrimination. The paper explains how this transformation came into being. It rejects the hypothesis now current that discriminating protection was dropped because it was a weak policy, and suggests instead that the aspirations of nationalistic businesses played a role.

Suggested Citation

  • Tirthankar Roy, 2017. "The Origins of Import Substituting Industrialization in India," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 71-95, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:1:p:71-95
    DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1292460
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1292460
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/20780389.2017.1292460?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eichengreen, Barry & Irwin, Douglas A., 2010. "The Slide to Protectionism in the Great Depression: Who Succumbed and Why?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(4), pages 871-897, December.
    2. Waterbury, John, 1999. "The Long Gestation and Brief Triumph of Import-Substituting Industrialization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 323-341, February.
    3. Panagariya, Arvind, 2011. "India: The Emerging Giant," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199751563.
    4. John Adams, 1971. "The Institutional Economics of Mahadev Govind Ranade," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 80-92, June.
    5. Gupta, Bishnupriya, 1997. "The Great Depression and Brazil' s capital goods sector: a re-examination," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 51(2), April.
    6. Michael A. Clemens & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "Why Did the Tariff-Growth Correlation Reverse After 1950?," NBER Working Papers 9181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Edwards, Sebastian, 1998. "Openness, Productivity and Growth: What Do We Really Know?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(447), pages 383-398, March.
    8. Dileep M. Wagle, 1981. "Imperial Preference and the Indian Steel Industry, 1924–39," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 34(1), pages 120-131, February.
    9. Arvind Virmani, 2004. "Sources of India's economic growth: trends in total factor productivity," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 131, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    10. Roy,Tirthankar, 2012. "India in the World Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107401471.
    11. Ashoka Mody & Kamil Yilmaz, 2002. "Imported Machinery for Export Competitiveness," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(1), pages 23-48, June.
    12. Rodrigues, Mauro, 2010. "Import substitution and economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 175-188, March.
    13. Bishnupriya Gupta, 2011. "Wages, unions, and labour productivity: evidence from Indian cotton mills," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(s1), pages 76-98, February.
    14. Basudev Chatterji, 1983. "The political economy of 'discriminating protection' : the case of textiles in the 1920s," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 20(3), pages 239-275, September.
    15. Bruton, H.J., 1998. "A Reconsideration of Import Substitution," Center for Development Economics 156, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    16. Barry Bosworth & Susan M. Collins, 2008. "Accounting for Growth: Comparing China and India," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 45-66, Winter.
    17. Roy,Tirthankar, 2012. "India in the World Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107009103.
    18. Henry J. Bruton, 1998. "A Reconsideration of Import Substitution," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 903-936, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vellore Arthi & Markus Lampe & Ashwin Nair & Kevin Hjortshøj, 2023. "Deliberate Surrender? The Impact of Interwar Indian Protection," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 23-47.
    2. Roy, Tirthankar, 2021. "Useful & reliable: technological transformation in colonial India," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113442, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Vellore Arthi & Markus Lampe & Ashwin Nair & Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke, 2020. "The Impact of Interwar Protection: Evidence from India," Working Papers 20200043, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised May 2020.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. A. A. Gnidchenko, 2017. "Import substitution as a complementary strategy," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 28(6), pages 593-599, November.
    2. Udude Celina C & Okulegu Bethran Enyim, 2012. "Exports and Nigerians Economic Growth: A Co-Integration Analysis," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 2(2), pages 429-444, June.
    3. R. Rijesh, 2021. "Liberalization, Import of Capital Goods, and Industrial Exports: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Sectors," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 13(1), pages 81-103, January.
    4. Adam Fforde, 2005. "Persuasion: Reflections on economics, data, and the 'homogeneity assumption'," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 63-91.
    5. Yury Simachev & Mikhail Kuzyk & Nikolay Zudin, 2016. "Import Dependence and Import Substitution in Russian Manufacturing: A Business Viewpoint," Foresight and STI Governance (Foresight-Russia till No. 3/2015), National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 25-45.
    6. Emilio J. Medina-Smith, 2000. "Is The Export-Led Growth Hypothesis Valid For Developing Countries? A Case Study Of Costa Rica," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 7, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    7. Kodama, Masahiro, 2013. "Growth-cycle nexus," IDE Discussion Papers 387, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    8. Shiyuan Pan & Qi Zhang & Mingxing Liu & Heng-fu Zou, 2007. "Technical Choice in Political Perspective: Rethinking How Elites Selected Economic Strategy After WW II," CEMA Working Papers 293, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    9. Behuria, Pritish, 2017. "The political economy of import substitution in the 21st century: the challenge of recapturing the domestic market in Rwanda," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69470, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Irwin, Douglas A., 2021. "The rise and fall of import substitution," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Yadong Luo & Huan Zhang & Juan Bu, 2019. "Developed country MNEs investing in developing economies: Progress and prospect," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 633-667, June.
    12. Cohen, Joseph N., 2008. "Managing the Faustian bargain: monetary autonomy in the pursuit of development in Eastern Europe and Latin America," MPRA Paper 22435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Wen Li Cheng & Jeffrey Sachs & Xiaokai Yang, 2005. "An Inframarginal Analysis Of The Ricardian Model," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 6, pages 87-107, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Cohen, Joseph N, 2010. "Neoliberalism’s relationship with economic growth in the developing world: Was it the power of the market or the resolution of financial crisis?," MPRA Paper 24527, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Inkyo Cheong & Valijon Turakulov, 2022. "How Central Asia to Escape from trade isolation?: Policy targeted scenarios by CGE modelling," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 2622-2648, August.
    16. Cohen, Joseph N & Linton, April, 2010. "The historical relationship between inflation and political rebellion, and what it might teach us about neoliberalism," MPRA Paper 22522, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Bianchi, Ana Maria, 2002. "For Different Audiences, Different Arguments: Economic Rhetoric at the Beginning of the Latin American School," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 291-305, September.
    18. Tol, Richard S.J., 2012. "A cost–benefit analysis of the EU 20/20/2020 package," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 288-295.
    19. Sujit Raghunathrao Jagadale & Himadri Roy‐Chaudhuri & Djavlonbek Kadirov, 2021. "Quality‐of‐life as chronotopefication and futurization: Subsistence consumer experiences in India," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 59-86, March.
    20. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2016. "Multilatinas as sources of new research insights: The learning and escape drivers of international expansion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1963-1972.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:1:p:71-95. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rehd20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.