This paper is published in Volume-11, Issue-1, 2025
Area
Economic History
Author
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar
Org/Univ
Ecole Mondiale World School, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Keywords
Indian Economy, Indian History, Economic History
Citations
IEEE
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar. Would Arthashastra-inspired policies have led to better Economic Outcomes for Post-Colonial India?, International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, www.IJARIIT.com.
APA
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar (2025). Would Arthashastra-inspired policies have led to better Economic Outcomes for Post-Colonial India?. International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, 11(1) www.IJARIIT.com.
MLA
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar. "Would Arthashastra-inspired policies have led to better Economic Outcomes for Post-Colonial India?." International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology 11.1 (2025). www.IJARIIT.com.
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar. Would Arthashastra-inspired policies have led to better Economic Outcomes for Post-Colonial India?, International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, www.IJARIIT.com.
APA
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar (2025). Would Arthashastra-inspired policies have led to better Economic Outcomes for Post-Colonial India?. International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, 11(1) www.IJARIIT.com.
MLA
Aaditya Sengupta Dhar. "Would Arthashastra-inspired policies have led to better Economic Outcomes for Post-Colonial India?." International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology 11.1 (2025). www.IJARIIT.com.
Abstract
After independence from Britain in 1947, the Indian government’s economic policies under Prime Minister Nehru intended to lay the foundations for a new, prosperous nation. However, until the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, India’s economy struggled with a notoriously low “Hindu rate of growth” and the stifling bureaucracy of the “License Raj.” Nehruvian policy took inspiration from Western Socialist doctrine, discarding ancient Indian economic insights, such as those enshrined in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Written in the fourth century BCE, the Arthashastra is widely regarded as a seminal text on economy and statecraft in the ancient world. Its approach, focusing on market and trade-friendly policies, in many ways, contrasted with the Nehruvian approach. This paper examines the extent to which the implementation of the Arthashastra’s tenets would have led to better economic outcomes for post-independence India, focusing on the early years of independence in the 1950s and 60s. It models this through an analysis of likely economic outcomes based on experience in other countries and post-liberalization India. The paper critically examines the social, political, and economic context of post-independence India and their impact on economic policy, concluding that while there was some sound rationale for the Nehruvian policies India adopted for its post-colonial economy, a progressive, if not immediate, implementation of the Arthashastra’s ideas would have advanced the arrival of growth and prosperity in India. Moreover, it concludes that this debate transcends questions of economics, pointing more broadly to how India can learn from the wisdom of its past as it moves forward on its path of progress instead of only looking westward for inspiration and role models.