The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we think about our economic future. Globalisation is now in retreat. Industrial policy and strategic state-led economic interventions are back on the menu everywhere. The Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S., the European Green Deal, and India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat are prominent examples.
India’s growth momentum has sustained. India recovered relatively quickly from the pandemic, yet it has entered a phase of ‘premature deindustrialisation’. The fruits of high growth were shared by a small minority, worsening pre-existing gaps. High-end cars get sold out. Common people struggle to cope with high food prices. This fault line is built into the structure of India’s growth. This takes us to a long-standing question: why has India not been able to break out of industrial stagnation and generate employment? Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba offer an unconventional perspective. In Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future, they bet their money not on manufacturing-led growth but on high-skill, services-driven growth.
