Did India wait too long to open up its economy to the rest of the world?

Question

Yes, too long vs No, the timing was right

riyasharma · Answer

[Yes, too long] I think about the decades my parents' generation spent stuck in the License Raj, talented and hardworking people denied opportunities that were just a policy choice away, and it's hard not to feel a kind of grief for the growth and possibility we lost waiting so long to open up.

adityakumar · Answer

[No, the timing was right] India's 1991 liberalization was directly triggered by a balance-of-payments crisis that left the country with barely two weeks of import cover, and economists note the reforms came only once foreign exchange reserves hit a genuine breaking point -- earlier liberalization without that forcing crisis may not have had the same political mandate to succeed.

Did India wait too long to open up its economy to the rest of the world?

Yes, too long

No, the timing was right

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