Hindu rate of growth

Hindu rate of growth was a controversial expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the economy of India, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s. The term, was coined by Indian economist Raj Krishna.

The term suggests that the low growth rate of India, a country with a high Hindu population was in a sharp contrast to high growth rates in other non-Hindu Asian countries, especially the East Asian Tigers, which were also newly independent. This meaning of the term, popularised by Robert McNamara, was used disparagingly and has connotations that refer to the supposed Hindu outlook of fatalism and contentedness Fact|date=January 2008. However as noted journalist Arun Shourie has pointed (see quote below) out the so called Hindu rate of growth was a result of socialist policies implemented by staunch secular governments and had nothing to do with Hinduism.

...because of those very socialist policies that their kind had swallowed and imposed on the country, our growth was held down to 3-4 per cent, it was dubbed — with much glee — as ‘the Hindu rate of growth’. [http://www.indianexpress.com/story/254969.html]

The economy of India has been growing at rate of around 6-8% since the pro-business economic reforms of the 1980s and the economic liberalisation of 1990s.

External links

* [http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/06/10/stories/2004061000141000.htm "The power of ideas", The Hindu Business Line, June 10, 2004]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitextlo/int_meghnaddesai.html Hindu rate of growth] - An explanation by Meghnad Desai