As the country completes 25 years of economic reforms, we recommend following books that give a glimpse of India’s journey after the historic economic reforms in 1991.
PERSONALITIES, MEMOIRS
Half-Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India
By Vinay Sitapati
Penguin, 2016 |
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Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer: My Years as Finance Minister
By Yashwant Sinha
Penguin, 2007 |
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A View from the Outside: Why Good Economics Works for Everyone
By P Chidambaram
Penguin, 2008 |
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An Economist in the Real World: The Art of Policymaking in India
By Kaushik Basu
Viking, 2015 |
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The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh
By Sanjaya Baru
Penguin, 2014 |
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OVERVIEW, ANALYSIS
The Turn of the Tortoise: The Challenge and Promise of India’s Future
By TN Ninan
Penguin, 2015 |
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The Intelligent Person’s Guide to Liberalization
By Amit Bhaduri and Deepak Nayyar
Penguin, 1996 |
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Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy
By Mihir Sharma
Random House, 2015 |
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India: The Emerging Giant
By Arvind Panagariya
Oxford University Press, 2011 |
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India Unbound: from Independence to the Global Information age
By Gurcharan Das
Penguin, 2000/2015 |
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Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations
By Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah
Penguin, 2015 |
OUTSIDER VIEW
Implosion
By John Elliott
Harper India, 2014 |
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India: The Road Ahead
By Mark Tully
Rider, 2012 |
DIGGING DEEPER
India’s Emerging Economy: Performance and Prospects in the 1990s and Beyond
Edited by Kaushik Basu
Oxford University Press, 2005 |
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India’s Economic Reforms and Development: Essays for Manmohan Singh
Edited by Isher Judge Ahluwalia and IMD Little
Oxford University Press, 2012 (2e) |
BACKGROUNDER
India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy
By Ramachandra Guha
Picador India, 2008 |
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India: A Million Mutinies Now
By VS Naipaul
Picador, 1990 |
THE OTHER VIEW
The Face You Were Afraid to See: Essays on the Indian Economy
By Amit Bhaduri
Penguin, 2009 |
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Everybody Loves a Good Drought
By P Sainath
Penguin, 2000 |
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Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indifference in New India
By Harsh Mander
Speaking Tiger, 2015 |
Apart from our own selection of titles, we invited economists and journalists to name a few of the best books on economic reforms. Here are their recommendations:
Jean Dreze Economist
The Economy of India: Global Challenge for the Century
By Jean-Philippe Boillot
Gyan Publishing House, 2008
Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India
By Pranab Bardhan
Princeton University Press, 2012
Economic reforms and Growth in India
Edited by Pulapre Balakrishnan
Orient BlackSwan, 2011 |
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Pulapre Balakrishnan Economist
An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions
By Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen
Penguin, 2013
Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries
By Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati Harper Collins, 2014
Economic Reforms and Growth in India
Edited by Pulpare Balkrishnan
Orient BlackSwan, 2011 |
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Reetika Khera Economist
India: Development and Participation
By Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen
Oxford University Press, 2002 (2e)
An Uncertain Glory, India and its Contradictions
By Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen
Penguin, 2013 |
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Shankkar Aiyar Economic Journalist
Accidental India
By Shankkar Aiyar
Aleph Book Company, 2012
India’s Political Economy 1947-2004
By Francine R Frankel
Oxford University Press, 2005 (2e)
India: Macroeconomics and Political Economy, 1964-1991
By Vijay Joshi and IMD Little
World Bank Publications, 1994 |
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Vinay Sitapati Commentator, biographer of PV Narasimha Rao
To the Brink and Back: India’s 1991 Story
By Jairam Ramesh
Rupa Publications India, 2015
Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries
By Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati
Harper Collins, 2014
Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India
By Rob Jenkins
Cambridge University Press, 2000 |