30 years after the launch of the program of liberalisation and privatisation

Thirty years ago, on 24th July, the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh presented the first budget of the Congress-led government headed by Narasimha Rao. Finance Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the balance of payments situation was precarious, with foreign currency reserves not enough to even pay for one month’s imports. … He then unveiled a program of major changes in policies, laws and regulations relating to trade, investment and the public sector, broadly in line with the prescriptions of the World Bank and the IMF.

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