This book presents a set of analytical and deeply policy-oriented articles on the dynamics of growth and performance of micro and small enterprises in India during the period of reforms. It provides fairly detailed analyses of policy changes for the micro and small enterprises secotr as well as empirical analyses of performance and efficiency of the unorganised manufacturing sector. it examines a range of emerging and persistent complex issues facing this crucial sector including credit, exports, trade regulations, capacity building, subcontracting, clustering, entrepreneurship and rural industrialisation. Focusing on the constraints facing this sector even during the economic reforms, most of the articles analyse how and why special attention, particularly by the state, needs to be paid towards enhancing firm competitiveness. Broad-basing the benefits of policy interventions to the overwhelmingly present yet left out micro enterprises, including rural areas, forms an important concern. This volume attempts to critically examine critical areas of intervention that could open up possibilities of developing a strong micro and small enterprises sector in India.

Post-reform India has seen a decline in agricultural growth as well as supply–demand imbalance and rising prices. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of domestic and international prices and trade since 1980–81, covering the past quarter of a century. Backed with rich data, it provides comparisons between the pre- and post-liberalisation policies and their effect on farm profitability, domestic prices and prices variability, and examines their possible role in determining the trajectory of agricultural growth since 1991. The book will appeal to students, scholars and researchers of agriculture studies, economics, finance, and development studies, as well as policy makers and agriculture experts.

Major economic reforms undertaken since 1991 have brought the Indian economy into a new phase of development directed toward becoming globally competitive through the opening of trade, foreign investment, and technology inflows. The private sector is expected to play a lead role, with a corresponding reduction in the role played by the public sector. This book is aimed at analyzing the comparative static effects of selected post-1991 trade and domestic policy reforms on trade, factor prices, economic welfare, and the intersectoral allocation of resources. The study relies on a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model that has been specially designed to analyze the potential economic effects of India's policy reforms. The model was developed in a collaborative effort involving the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi and the University of Michigan. Patterned after the Michigan CGE Model of World Production and Trade that has been in use for more than two decades, the India CGE model features closer attention to special characteristics of India's economic structure, including more agricultural sector detail, allowance for state ownership, and administered pricing. The conclusions of the study suggest that the policy reforms will yield increased real returns to land, labor, and capital, and shift the terms of trade in favor of Indian agriculture. Lastly, not only are there efficiency-enhancing intersectoral shifts in resource allocation but there are notable increases in scale economies across the Indian manufacturing sectors. Rajesh Chadha and Sanjib Pohit are Economists at the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi. Alan V. Deardorff and Robert M. Stern are Professors of Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan.