India – before and after global crisis: Shankar Acharya

Nearly three years ago I had noted that the period 2003-08 was the best sequential five years of macroeconomic performance that India had ever achieved, according to the usual criteria of growth, inflation, external balance, fiscal deficit and aggregate investment (“The halcyon years, 2003-08”,Business Standard, October 9, 2008). By the spring of that year the international commodity price shock had hit our country and in September the global financial crisis came to a spectacular climax. I ended my column on a nostalgic note: “Even as the economic indicators turn inexorably negative, let us not forget those halcyon years. Who knows when (or if) they will return.” Now, after three years, it may be instructive to take stock.

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