Escaping the Middle-Income Trap: The Imperatives of State Strengthening

Summary

India has exhibited relatively continuous growth for over seven decades to reach low  middle-income levels and is on the point of escaping from widespread poverty. But the  country has also had bursts of growth followed by some stagnation and again another burst. The first burst was for about a period of 15 years after independence, following 100 years or more of stagnation. Then followed some stagnation, or slow growth, until the 1980s. The major strategic change in economic policy in the early 1990s led to another burst of growth lasting more than two decades. There has been another slowdown since the early 2010s, though it cannot be characterised as stagnation. But it could be an indicator of the difficulties that countries face in their effort to ascend to the next level—the upper middle-income category.