Abstract: There is considerable optimism among policy makers that India is now on the cusp of an economic upswing, having met the challenges of global health and economic shocks in the year 2022-23. However,India’s claim of a return to 'normalcy' needs to be seen against the decade-long derailment of the economy in the 2010s compared to the growth acceleration witnessed after the 1980s. This essay addresses the setback to growth, investment, and consequent deindustrialisation. Falling investment rates and declining manufacturing growth rates have marked the Indian GDP growth reversal since the mid-2010s. These structural defects have not yet been addressed. The current optimism can be realised only with a public investment push that would crowd in private investment.

About the Speaker: Dr. R. Nagaraj is retired Professor of Economics at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Bombay. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. An economist by training, he has worked extensively on India's economic growth and industrialization, public sector performance, applied macroeconomics, industrial labour market in India and official economic statistics. He has taught a variety of courses on Indian economy, the comparative economic development of India and China, and development economics. He has edited the book titled Industrialisation for Employment and Growth in India: Lessons from Small Firm Clusters and Beyond, published by Cambridge University Press in 2021 and coedited Political Economy of Contemporary India with S. Motiram that was published by the Cambridge University Press in 2017.