Economics Study Material
Economics Study Material
Economics Study Material
ON
ECONOMICS-I
B.A;LL.B. 1ST SEMESTER
Contents:
(Paper Code : BL – 1004)
1. General Principles
3. Indian Economics
(a). Introduction to Indian Economics.
(b). Trends in population growth.
(c). Estimates of national income in India.
(d). Post independence economic policies in India.
BOOKS RECOMMENDED
Dhingra, M.L., Principles of Economics.
Roger Leroy Miller, Principles Of Economics Today, Prentice – Hall, India.
Roger Leroy Miller , Economics Today, Canfield Press, San Francisco.
Seth, M.L., Principles of Economics.
Singh, S.P., Principles of Economics.
Soloman, Economics, Prentice – Hall, India.
Introduction of Economics
Economics is a social science. Its basic function is to study how people –
Individuals, household, firms, and nations –maximize their gains from their limited
recourses and opportunities. In economic terminology, this is called maximizing
behavior or, more appropriately, optimizing behavior. Economics is thus a social
science, which studies human behavior in relation to optimizing allocation of
available recourses to achieve the given ends.
Economics studies how household allocate their limited resources (income)
between centralize various goods and services they consume so that they are able
to maximize their total satisfaction. It analyses how household with limited income
decide ‘What to Consume’ and ‘how much to Consume’ with the aim of
maximizing total utility.
Economics is the study of how individuals & group of make decision with limited
resources as the best satisfy their wants, need, and desires.
Meaning of Economics:
The term ‘Economics’ in English language has its origin in two Greek words-
Oikos (Household) and Nemein (Manage). Thus, they mean ‘Manage of
Household’. Wants of each household are unlimited but most of the means to
satisfy them like food, cloth, etc., are limited or scarce. Thus, faced with scarcity,
people while managing the household must make choice.
Definition of Economics:
Definition of Economics
Growth
Wealth Welfare Scarcity Orinted
Definition Definition Definition Definition
According to Adam Smith: “An enquiry into nature & cause of wealth of
nations.”
Adam Smith defines Economics as the “Science of wealth”. Economics was
regarded as the science which studied the production & Consumption of wealth
Welfare Definition :
Scarcity Definition:
Nature of Economics:
The objective of the study of nature of economics is to know whether economics is
a Science or an Art or it is both sciences as well art.
According to Samuelson, “Economics is the oldest of the Arts, the Newest of
Science – Indeed the queen of all the Social Science”.
Positive
Science
Nature Of
Economics Normative
Art
Economics as a Science: The term Science has its origin in term ‘Scientia’ of
Latin Language. It means “to know”. By knowing a subject we mean
understanding it and begin able to describe its causes and effects. Science has
been defined in these terms-“Science is a systematic body of knowledge
concerning the relationship between causes and effects of a particular
phenomenon”.
According to Poincare, “Science is built-up of facts as a house is built of
stones but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of
stones is a house”. In other words, to build science, we must collect,
classify and analyse the facts systematically. In economics also one collect
classifies, and analyses economics facts systematically. \
In a Capitalist economy, wealth enjoys the prestige in the society, which results in erosion
of human values.
There is a large –scale wastage of resources due to unnecessary competition.
In capitalist system, owners of the means of production can earn more as compared to those
who do not possess much means of production. This brings wide inequalities in the
distribution of income and wealth.
In modern capitalist market group rivalries and price wars, price-agreements etc. are
commonly found.
In capitalist countries, society possesses two classes such as haves and have- notes. Such
division result in conflict in the form of strikes, lockouts and industrial disputes in the
economy. Under capitalism, Capitalists generally exploit the poor laborers.
NO LABOUR EXPLOITATION:
There is only one class in a socialistic economy hence there is no question of
exploitation.
SOCIAL WELFARE:
The aim of socialist economy is to maximize social welfare of the society. It provides
equal opportunities of employment to all individual according to their abilities
Demerits of Planned Economy:
Economists like Robbins, Maurice Dobb, and Georg Helm etc., have
criticized the socialist economy on the following:
Evils of Bureaucracy:
In socialist economy, all economic activities are controlled by the government.
Thus, they develop all evils of bureaucracy like favoritism, delay; corruption and other
evils,
Burden on Government :
Expenditure on Planning :
Mixed Economy :
It is a golden mixture of capitalism and socialism. Under this system
there is freedom of economic activities and government interferences for the social
welfare. Hence it is a blend of both the economies. The concept of mixed economy
is of recent origin.
According to “Murad”:
“Mixed economy is that economy in which both government and
private individuals exercise economic control.
According to Prof. Samuelson,
“Mixed economy is that economy in which both public and private
sectors cooperate.”
Merits of Mixed Economy :
7. No rationale in Price
8. No equal opportunities, system. State fixes
wealthy people get all the prices.
opportunities.
8. Equal opportunities to
all.
UNIT -2
Introduction of Demand
One of the market forces which determine price is demand. Demand is related to
consumption. It represents the process through which a consumer obtains goods
and services he wants to consume The Demand in economics is something more
than desire to purchase through desire is one element of it. For Example A
beggar may desire food but due to lack of means to purchase it, his demand is not
effective. It economics, demands refer to effective demand, which implies three
things
1. Desire,
2. Means to purchase
3. On willingness to use those means for that Purchase
Features of Demand :
1. When the person, who is in need and desiring, is willing and able to pay for
what he desires, the desire changes into demand.
2. The demand is always at a price.
3. The demand is always per unit of unit of time.
4. The demand indicates the quantity or the amount of the commodity the
consumer are prepared to buy at the particular price.
Type of demand
Price demand : Price demand ,other things remaining unchanged ,refers to the
various quantities of a commodity or service that a consumer would of a
commodity or service that a consumer would purchase at a given time in a market
at various prices.
Income demand : The Income demand ,other things remaining unchanged, refer
to the various quantities of goods and service which would be purchased by the
consumer at Various Income
Type of Income Demand:
Superior Demand: Superior goods make up a larger proportion of
consumption as income rises, and therefore are a type of
normal goods in consumer theory. Such a good must possess two
economic characteristics: it must be scarce, and, along with that, it must
have a high price.
Inferior Goods: an inferior good is a good that decreases in demand
when consumer income rises (or rises in demand when consumer income
decreases), unlike normal goods, for which the opposite is observed.
Normal goods are those for which consumers' demand increases when
their income increases.
Cross Demand : The cross demand, other things remaining constant, refers o the
quantities of a good or service which will be purchased with reference to change in
price not of this good but of other inter-related goods. These goods are either
substitutes, or complementary good.
Substitution Goods : Substitute goods are two goods that could be used for the
same purpose. If the price of one good increases, then demand for the substitute is
likely to rise. Therefore, substitutes have a positive cross elasticity of demand. A
decrease in the price of A will result in a rightward movement along the demand
curve of A and cause the demand curve for B to shift in. Examples of substitute
goods include margarine and butter, tea and coffee
Complementary Goods: A complementary good or complement is a good with
a negative cross elasticity of demand, in contrast to a substitute good. This means
a good's demand is increased when the price of another good is decreased.
Conversely, the demand for a good is decreased when the price of another good is
increased.
Reason for the law of demand or the sloping downwards of the demand curve
The downward slope of the demand curve implies inverse relationship between
demand and price of a commodity. Following are the reasons for the downward or
negative slope of the demand curve:
According to Marshall “( The amount demanded increases with a fall in price and
diminishing with a rise in price).”
According to Bilas “ ( The law of demand states that other things being equal the
quantity demanded per unit at time will be greater , lower the price and smaller,
higher the price”)
According to Prof. Samuelson “(law of demand states that people will buy more
at lower prices and buy less at higher prices other things remaining the same)”
According to Prof.Stigler and Boulding, the main assumptions of the law are:
There are four types of changes in demand. Two types of changes take
place due to change in price and they are extension of demand and
contraction of demand. Two types of changes take place due to change of
other things and they are increase in demand and decrease in demand
1. Extension of Demand: when other things remain the same with a fall
in the price, the amount demanded goes up or extends. There will be
downwards movement along the same demand curve.
PRICE QTY
5 5
4 10
3 15
2 20
1 25
Price Qty
1 30
2 25
3 20
4 15
5 10
Increase in demand : as a result of changes in factor other than price, the demand
shifts to another demand curve which is on the right side and above. The demand
curve itself moves to the right side and moves above.
Thus we can find clear difference between extension and increase in demand and
contraction and decrease in demand.
SUPPLY
Price is determined by the forces of demand and supply. They are called market
forces. Supply indicates the amount of the goods offered for sale at a given price.
Supply changes with the change in price. Supply is a flow of goods in the market.
According to Mayers “supply means the amount offered for sale at given price.
We may define supply as a schedule of the amount of a good that would be offered
for sale at all possible prices at any one instant of time, or during any one period of
time,”
The supply of non produced goods is more direct. Individuals supply their labour
in the form of service directly to the good market.
Example; an independent contractor may repair washing machine. The contractor
supplies his labour directly.
supply function
Supply of a goods or service refers to the quantities that the seller is willing to and
able to offer for sale at various prices within a given time period, other factors held
constant.
The quantity supplied of a commodity is not dependent upon its price alone but on
a number of factors such as the prices of other commodities, the price of factors
used in its production the goals of producers and the state of technology. These
factors can be written in the form of equation known as supply Function thus:
T = technology
MT = TIME PERIOD
In a simple form we can say, the supply function other things remaining constant is
Sn=f (Pn). This means that the quantity supplied of a good varies directly with
price.
SAVING
Thus,
Y=C+S
S=Y-C
S = f(Y)
Since Y = C+S
S = Y-C
(i)
S = Y-(a+bY)
= Y- a - b Y
= -a+Y-bY
= -a+(1-b)Y
(ii) That (1-b) in the above saving function in (ii) is the value of marginal
propensity to save where b is the value of marginal propensity to consume.
Consumption
The process in which the substance of a thing is completely destroyed, used up,
or incorporated or transformed into something else. Consumption of goods
and services is the amount of them used in a particular time period.
Consumption is normally the largest GDP component. Many persons judge the
economic performance of their country mainly in terms of consumption level and
dynamics.
Consumption Function
As the demand for a good depends upon its price, similarly consumption of a
community depends upon the level of income. In other words, “consumption is a
function of income”.
1200 900
= 0.75
= 0.75
= 0.75
= 0.75
1300 975
= 0.75
1400 1050 = 0.75
The above schedule of consumption function reveals an important fact that when
income rises, consumption also rises but not as much as the income. This fact
about consumption function was emphasised by Keynes, who first of all evolved
the concept of consumption function. The reason why consumption rises less than
income is that a part of the increment in income is saved.
Therefore, we see that when income increases from Rs. 1000 crores to Rs. 1100
crores, the amount of consumption rises from Rs. 750 crores to 825 crores. Thus,
with the increase in income by Rs. 100 crores, consumption rises by Rs. 75 crores;
the remaining Rs. 25 crores are saved. Similarly, when income rises from Rs. 1100
crores to Rs. 1200 crores, the amount of consumption increases from Rs. 825
crores to Rs. 900 crores.
Here also, as a result of increase in income by Rs. 100, the amount of consumption
has risen by Rs. 75 crores and the remaining Rs. 25 crores has been saved. The
same applies to further increases in income and consumption. We shall see later
that Keynes based his theory of multiplier on the proposition that consumption
increases less than income and this theory of multiplier occupies an important
place in macroeconomics
C = a + bY
Where “a” and “b” are constant. While “a” is intercept term of the
consumption function, “b” stands for the slope of the consumption function
and therefore represents marginal propensity to consume.
Investment
Investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used
in the future to create wealth. In finance, an investment is a monetary asset
purchased with the idea that the asset will provide income in the future or will be
sold at a higher price for a profit. An investment is an asset or item that is
purchased with the hope that it will generate income or will appreciate in the
future. In an economic sense, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not
consumed today but are used in the future to create wealth. In finance, an
investment is a monetary asset purchased with the idea that the asset will provide
income in the future or will be sold at a higher price for a profit.
Type of Investment
Different Types of Investment
Autonomous
Gross Unplanned
Investment
Financial Real
induced Net
The basic differences between savings and investment are explained in the
following points:
1. Savings means to set aside a part of your income for future use. Investment
is defined as the act of putting funds into productive uses, i.e. investing in
such investment vehicles which can reap money over time.
2. People save money, to fulfill their unexpected expenses or urgent money
requirements. Conversely, investments are made to generate returns over
the period that can help in capital formation.
3. With an investment, there is always a risk of losing money. Unlike savings,
where the no or comparatively fewer chances of losing the hard-earned
money.
4. Undoubtedly, the investment provides higher returns than savings, as there
is a nominal rate of interest on savings. However, the investments can earn
money more than the invested amount, if invested wisely.
5.You can have access to your savings, anytime because they are highly liquid,
but in the case of investment you cannot have easy access to money
because the process of selling the investments takes some time
Theories of Economic Growth
Economists have been indulging in building growth models to explain the process
economic development. However these models are built in the light of economic
development in western countries especially England. For a long time,
economists were concerned with problems other than growth foreign trade, natural
resources full employment etc.
Prof. Samuelson: Many writers have tried to read into economic history a linear
progression through inevitable stages, such as primitive economy, feudalism
capitalism and some from communism. Actual facts have not agreeably stuck to
such timetables, in particular the mixed economics dominate the western world
and came into being without the permission of social prophets... The single most
surprising development of our age was that unpredicted growth in production and
living standards has taken place in second level countries – Japan , Germany , Italy
, France, Scandinavia, And Western Europe , generally , rather than in the most
advanced countries like the US and Asia whose smaller rates of growth imply a
widening relative group.
Growth Models
Assumptions:
2. Land is used for production of corn and the working force in agriculture helps in
determining the distribution in industry.
12. Demand and supply price are independent of the marginal productivity of
labour.
MARXIAN MODEL
The Marxian analysis is the greatest and the most penetrating examination of the
process of economic development. He expected capitalistic change to break down
because of sociological reasons and not due to economic stagnation and only after
a very high degree of development is attained. His famous book ‘Das Kapital’ is
known as the Bible of socialism (1867). He presented the process of growth and
collapse of the capital economy.
3. Labour theory of value holds good. Thus labour is the main source of value
generation.
Mahalanobis Model
The growth of capital goods sector in turn depends upon the proportions of total
investment allocated to the capital goods sector and output-capital ratio in the
capital goods sector. Given the output-capital ratio in capital goods sector (i.e.
heavy industries), he proves that if the proportion of total investment allocated to
the capital goods is relatively greater, the rate of growth of output of capital goods
will be greater and hence, given the Mahalanobis assumption, the future rate of
growth of investment in the economy will be greater.
Rostow’s theory of the stages of Economics Growth is the most widely circulated
and highly commented piece of economics literature in recent years. Rostow's
Stages of Economic Growth model is one of the major historical models
of economic growth. It was published by American economist Walt
WhitmanRostow in 1960. The model postulates that economic growth occurs in
five basic stages, of varying length: ... Preconditions for take-off
Similarly, Kindleberger opined that vicious circle of poverty takes place due to the
small size of the market.
3. Capital Shortage
The underdeveloped countries are not in a position to use this modern and latest
technology on account of several bottlenecks, such as abundant supply of Labour
lack of skilled labour, sacristy of capital , poverty etc..,
The rate of growth of population is very high. So far as the size of population is
concerned, India ranks second next only to China (1312 million in 2006). India’s
population is now 1110 million in 2006- 07. During the decade of 1991, the
growth rate of population in India was 1.61 p.c. per annum, as compared to 0.7 p.c.
growth rate of population of developed countries.
High birth rate (23.5 per 1000) coupled with low death rate (7.5. per 1000 in 2005-
06) is the genuine cause for population explosion in India. In the 20th century,
India’s population went up by 5 p.c. as against 3 p.c. increase in the world’s
population as a whole.
Less developed countries live mainly upon agriculture and extractive industries,
like mining, fisheries and forests. Predominance of agriculture is explained from
the viewpoint of sectoral composition of national income and occupational pattern.
In India, in 1950- 51, more than 55 p.c. of our GDP came from the agricultural
sector or the so- called primary sector. In 2007-08, however, the contribution of
this sector toward GDP came down to 19.4 p.c.
Banking
1. Acceptance of deposits
2. Advancing of loans
4. Clearing of cheques
6. Financing industries
It is seen from the above that commercial bank play a vital role in the economy.
Therefore a central Agency i.e. Central Bank is necessary to supervise and direct
the operations of the Commercial Bank and that they should not misuse their
powers. A Central Bank has been established in every country for this purpose. As
an apex of the monetary and banking structure of the country, it performs the
following functions. In India, the Reserve Bank Of India:
2. The performance of general banking and agency service for the State Bank.
“Monetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a country, like
the central bank or currency board, controls the supply of money, often targeting
an inflation rate or interest rate to ensure price stability and general trust in the
currency.”
Price stability
Full Employment
Economic Growth
CONTROL OF CREDIT
Credit control is an important tool used by Reserve Bank of India, a major weapon of the
monetary policy used to control the demand and supply of money (liquidity) in the
economy. Central Bank administers control over the credit that the commercial banks
grant.
The instruments of Monetary Policy may be classified according to the area of their
greatest initial impact- whether they operate principally on the supply of money through
changing either the stock of reserve money or the multiplier, or on the demand for credit
through cost and other influences.
Broadly, the methods of credit control by the Reserve Bank of India are quantitative as can
be seen in the following chart:
Cash Reserve
Ratio Publicity
Regulation of
Consumer
Credits
1. Bank Rate: The bank rate is the rate at which the Central Bank of a
country is prepared to re-discount the first class securities.
3. Cash Reserve Ratio: Under this system the Central Bank controls credit
by changing the Cash Reserves Ratio. For example—If the Commercial
Banks have excessive cash reserves on the basis of which they are creating
too much of credit which is harmful for the larger interest of the economy.
So it will raise the cash reserve ratio which the Commercial Banks are
required to maintain with the Central Bank. This activity of the Central
Bank will force the Commercial Banks to curtail the creation of credit in
the economy. In this way by raising the cash reserve ratio of the
Commercial Banks the Central Bank will be able to put an effective check
on the inflationary expansion of credit in the economy. With this, the
Commercial Banks will now be in a position to create more credit than
what they were doing before. Thus, by varying the cash reserve ratio, the
Central Bank can influence the creation of credit.
4. Rationing Credit: Under this method the credit is rationed by limiting the
amount available to each applicant. The Central Bank puts restrictions on
demands for accommodations made upon it during times of monetary
stringency. In this the Central Bank discourages the granting of loans to
stock exchanges by refusing to re-discount the papers of the bank which
have extended liberal loans to the speculators. This is an important method
of credit control and this policy has been adopted by a number of countries
like Russia and Germany.
5. Direct Action: Under this method if the Commercial Banks do not follow
the policy of the Central Bank, then the Central Bank has the only recourse
to direct action. This method can be used to enforce both quantitatively and
qualitatively credit controls by the Central Banks. This method is not used
in isolation; it is used as a supplement to other methods of credit control.
Direct action may take the form either of a refusal on the part of the Central
Bank to re-discount for banks whose credit policy is regarded as being
inconsistent with the maintenance of sound credit conditions. Even then the
Commercial Banks do not fall in line; the Central Bank has the
constitutional power to order for their closure.
Fiscal policy
Fiscal policy means the use of taxation and public expenditure by the government for
stabilisation or growth.
According to Culbarston, “By fiscal policy we refer to government actions affecting its
receipts and expenditures which we ordinarily taken as measured by the government’s
receipts, its surplus or deficit.”
Budgetary Policy: According to Prof. J.M Keynes “The old classical economists
advocated a policy of balanced and small budgets. However, this policy will not help to
tide over depression and unemployment. The need at such a time is to increase the flow of
income stream into the economy and could be made possible, only through deficit
budgeting.
Taxation Policy: Taxation is a powerful instrument of fiscal policy in the hands of public
authorities which greatly affect the changes in disposable income, consumption and
investment. An anti- depression tax policy increases disposable income of the individual,
promotes consumption and investment. Obviously, there will be more funds with the
people for consumption and investment purposes at the time of tax reduction.
Pump Priming: Pump Priming refers to that public Expenditure which helps initiate and
revive economic activity in an economy where stagnation reigns supreme consequent upon
depression.
Economic Stabilisation: The first and the foremost objective of fiscal policy are to
eliminate cyelical fluctuations in economic activity and to maintain it at a stable level. The
up –and –down swings in business are checked by compensatory fiscal action to counteract
fluctuations.
Full Employment:
The economy was full of resources and a prosperous one. Therefore, high
quality agricultural products and handicrafts made by the Indians were
traded across the world.
During the British rule, India’s economy became a net raw material
supplier and a net importer of finished products.
85 percent of the Indian populations were rural and their main source of
subsistence was agriculture.
During the British colonial period, agriculture (in spite of being the main
occupation) was suffering from many problems and hence the effective
growth was zero percent.
During the last five and half year decades a number of significant changes have
taken place in the Indian economy. These changes point to the fact that the
economy should be called a developing Economy:
1. Low Per Capita Income: Underdeveloped economies have low per capita
income. India has no exception to it. In 1947-48, per capita income was Rs.
230. People were poor. They were not getting fair square meals a day. They
had no shelter and clothing. Most of the people were unemployed
India is second most populous country in the world, next to China. According to
2001 Census, Indian population was 1027 million while according to 2011 census;
India’s population was 1210.2 million. India has 17.2% of the total world
population (so one in every six people in the world is an Indian), but in terms of
land area, India stands at the seventh place and has only 2.42% of total land area of
the world, while land area of U.S.A. is about 4.8%. India’s population is about
three times than that of U.S.A., twenty-one times than that of Canada and about six
times than that of Japan.
Population Explosion
Population Explosion refers the sudden and rapid rise in the size of population,
especially human population. It is an unchecked growth of human
population caused as a result of:
Population explosion mainly refers to the surge in population post-World War II.
However, in context to India, it refers to the rapid increase in population in post-
Independent era.
Population explosion refers to the rapid and dramatic rise in world population that
has occurred over the last few hundred years. Between 1959 and 2000, the world’s
population increased from 2.5 billion to 6.1 billion people. According to United
Nations projections, the world population will be between 7.9 billion and 10.9
billion by 2050.
Most of the growth is currently taking place in the developing world, where rates
of natural increase are much higher than in industrialized countries. Concern that
this might lead to over population has led some countries to adopt population
control policies
3. Poverty: High birth rate, both historically and statistically, is associated with
poverty and low standard of living. It may be noted that poverty is both the cause
and effect of population explosion. Due to poverty, there has been massive growth
of population. On the other hand, the large masses of people live in poverty due to
over population. It may sound queer, but the law is that the poorer a country the
greater is the growth rate of its population. India, caught in the morass of her age-
old poverty, finds herself in the midst of a population explosion. The population
that was less than 400 million in the forties was found to be about 1.21 billion in
2011 census. As a result of this even the six plans completed by now have so far
failed to cope with the enormous problem of unemployment.
4. Illiteracy: The resources available are fixed. In theory and in practice, the total
available resources are shared by the people using them. Population explosion is
the key reason for illiteracy in India. People prefer engage their children in
economic activities, rather than providing them education.
5. Poor Health: If people do not get adequate food and nutrition, then they may
suffer from poor health.
6. Economy: People need food, clothes, shelter, and occupation to make their living.
The demand for consumption should never exceed the production or resource
limit. The economy of any country is negatively impacted, if there is massive
population explosion beyond the tolerance limit.
7. Pollution and Global warming: Too much population causes too much pressure
on earth. There arises excessive demand for finished products leading to over-
industrialization and over-utilization of resources. The industrial discharges, and
fumes are the chief causes for water and air pollution. Further, the poisonous gases
released because of burning of fossil fuels in factories is widely responsible for
Global warming.
Causes of Population Explosion
Indian Scenario
The population policy of the Government of India has Passes through the
following five phases
National Population Policy of India was formulated in the year 2000 with the long term
objective of achieving a stable population by 2045, at a level consistent with the
requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development, and environmental
protection. The immediate objective of the policy is to address the unmet needs for
contraception, health care infrastructure, and health personnel, and to provide integrated
service delivery for basic reproductive and child health care. The medium-term objective is
to bring the TFR (Total Fertility Rate) to replacement levels by 2010, through vigorous
implementation of inter-sectoral operational strategies. TFR is the average number of
children each women would have in her life time.
The success of the family planning programme depends ultimately on both demand
for smaller families and supply of family planning services.
The family planning programme in India has been in operation for more than five decades.
But it has not been able to reduce the infantile mortality rate, crude birth rate and total
fertility rate to a level which should achieve the objective of population stabilization even
in the next 50 years. The need is to motivate, educate and spread the family planning
programme among the masses, to strengthen the Government programme and to rope in
non-government organizations (NGOs).
1. Motivation:
For the success of family planning programme, there is need to motivate the people. India
lives in villages where people are illiterate, ignorant and tradition bound. They think and
act according to the rural value system. Even in urban areas, vast sections of the population
hold on to old beliefs, traditions and values. The traditional joint family system is a barrier
to the small family norm.
.On the other hand, an additional child in rural areas and among the urban poor is looked
upon as an asset. Similarly, a male child is considered essential in Indian families, even if
there are many female children. Thus such beliefs, attitudes, values and traditions
perpetuate large families.
2. Population Education:
A UNESCO Report defines population education as “an educational programme which
provides for a study of the population situation in the family, community, nation and the
world with the purpose of developing in the students, rational and responsible attitudes and
behaviour towards coping with that situation.”
The aim of population education is to create awareness and understanding of the causes and
consequences of population growth among students, teachers, parents, social workers, and
other sections of the society. Population education is essential to motivate parents and
prospective parents to limit the size of their families and to adopt appropriate family
planning methods and techniques. For this, the following measures are suggested at various
levels.
Being overburdened, they are malnourished and give birth to weak children leading to large
infantile mortality. The lack of economic independence and the absence of education,
training and professional career among the majority of women have a direct effect on
family size and population growth in India.
4. Voluntary Agencies:
Voluntary agencies can play a very important role through non-formal programmes in rural
areas and poor urban areas. In this context, the service youth clubs, labour unions, women’s
organisations, religious and social societies, Panchayats and Gram Sabhas (village level
societies) can go a long way in educating the people towards the importance of the small
family norm.
Students studying in medical colleges can be entrusted with the task of training and other
Para-medical workers in health centres. Funds can also come from voluntary agencies
which should be distributed on non-sectarian basis. Such voluntary agencies should work in
close co-operation with government family planning department. Besides, there is the need
for international cooperation both in terms of funds and transfer of modern family planning
technology to India.
Since such a measure involves large funds, the Government can seek the help of the
organised sector and NGOs to finance or raise funds, and also hold special camps for the
purpose. The Government should also give suitable tax exemption for specified family
planning activities to such institutions. But those who are educated and working in
government, semi-government and private organisations may be given incentives in the
form of advance increments if they undergo sterilization after two children.
6. Economic Growth:
The aim of family planning is not only to bring about a decline in fertility rates but also to
improve the quality of life of the people. These are possible through rapid economic
growth. It is not an illusion to believe that a reduction in population growth will
automatically raise living standards. In fact, an effective family planning policy should be
integrated with measures to accelerate economic development.
As the Ninth Five Year Plan observes: “Several of the South Asian countries have been
able to achieve economic prosperity and improvement in quality of life inspite of
population growth. This has been attributed to the increase in productivity due to
development and utilisation of innovative technologies by the young educated population
who formed the majority of the growing population. These countries have been able to
exploit the dynamics of demographic transition to achieve economic growth by using the
human resources as the engine driving the economic development, improved employment
with adequate emoluments has promoted saving and investment which in turn stimulated
growth.”
National Income
National income is an uncertain term which is used interchangeably with national dividend,
national output and national expenditure. On this basis, national income has been defined in
a number of ways. In common parlance, national income means the total value of goods
and services produced annually in a country.
In other words, the total amount of income accruing to a country from economic activities
in a year’s time is known as national income. It includes payments made to all resources in
the form of wages, interest, rent and profits.
The definitions of national income can be grouped into two classes: One, the traditional
definitions advanced by Marshall, Pigou and Fisher; and two, modern definitions.
For example, a peasant sells wheat worth Rs.2000 to a flour mill which sells wheat flour to
the wholesaler and the wholesaler sells it to the retailer who, in turn, sells it to the
customers. If each time, this wheat or its flour is taken into consideration, it will work out
to Rs.8000, whereas, in actuality, there is only an increase of Rs.2000 in the national
income.
This definition is better than the Marshallian definition. It has proved to be more practical
also. While calculating the national income now-a- days, estimates are prepared in
accordance with the two criteria laid down in this definition.
First, avoiding double counting, the goods and services which can be measured in money
are included in national income. Second, income received on account of investment in
foreign countries is included in national income.
according to this definition, in the backward and underdeveloped countries of the world,
where a major portion of the produce is simply bartered, correct estimate of national
income will not be possible, because it will always work out less than the real level of
income. Thus the definition advanced by Pigou has a limited scope.
Fisher’s Definition:
Fisher adopted ‘consumption’ as the criterion of national income whereas Marshall and
Pigou regarded it to be production. According to Fisher, “The National dividend or income
consists solely of services as received by ultimate consumers, whether from their material
or from the human environments. Thus, a piano, or an overcoat made for me this year is not
a part of this year’s income, but an addition to the capital. Only the services rendered to me
during this year by these things are income.”
The national income of a country can be measured by three alternative methods: (i) Product
Method (ii) Income Method, and (iii) Expenditure Method.
1. Product Method:
We calculate the money value of all final goods and service produced in an economy
during a year. The money value of these goods and service is calculated at market prices.
The sum total is called the GDP at market Price.
2. Income Method:
We estimate the income earned by various factor services engaged in the process of
production. The sum of these incomes provides us the measure of gross National Income at
factor cost.
3. Expenditure Method:
Pigou establishes a close relationship between economic welfare and national income,
because both of them are measured in terms of money. When national income increases,
total welfare also increases and vice versa.
The effect of national income on economic welfare can be studied in two ways:
(1) By change in the size of national income, and
Whereas the negative change in national income results in reduction of its volume. People
get lesser goods and services for consumption which leads to decrease in economic
welfare. But this relationship depends on a number of factors.
1. Change in Prices:
Is the change in national income real or monetary? If the change in national income is due
to change in prices, it will be difficult to measure the real change in economic welfare. For
example, when the national income increases as a result of increase in prices, the increase
in economic welfare is not possible because it is probable that the output of goods and
services may not have increased. It is more likely that the economic welfare would decline
as a result of increase in prices. It is only the real increase in national income that increases
economic welfare.
2. Working Conditions:
It depends on the manner in which the increase in national income comes about. The
economic welfare cannot be said to have increased, if the increase in national income is due
to exploitation of labour e.g., increase in production by workers working for longer hours,
by paying them lesser wages than the minimum. Forcing them to put their women and
children to work, by not providing them with facilities of transport to and from the factories
and of residence, and their residing in slums.
4. Method of Spending:
The influence of increase in national income on economic welfare depends also on the
method of spending adopted by the people. If with the increase in income, people spend on
such necessities and facilities as milk, ghee, eggs, fans, etc. which increase efficiency, the
economic welfare will increase.
But on the contrary, the expenditure on drinking, gambling etc. will result in decreasing the
economic welfare. As a matter of fact, the increase or decrease in economic welfare as a
result of increase in national income depends on changes in the tastes of people. If the
change in fashions and tastes takes place in the direction of the consumption of better
goods, the economic welfare increases.
Conclusion:
It is clear from the above analysis that though the national income and economic welfare
are closely inter-related, yet it cannot be said with certainty that the economic welfare
would increase with the increase in national income and per capita income.
In 1990s the govt. of India in order to come out of the economic crisis decided to devite
from its previous economic policies and learn towards Privatization. In July 1991 when the
devaluation of Indian currency took place the govt. started announcing its new economic
polices one after another. Though these polices pertained to different aspects of the
economic field they had one thing in common. The economic element was to orient the
Indian system towards the world market it is in this context the govt. launched its new
economic policy which consisted of among other things three important features.
Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization .Liberalization of the economy means to
free if from direct or physical control imposed by the Govt. Economic reforms were based
on the assumption that marten forces could guide the economy in amore effective manner
Than Government.
The main objectives behind the launching of the new –economic policy (NEP) in 1991 by
the union finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, could be stated as follows:
The main objective was to plunge Indian economy in to the arena of ‘Globalization
and to give it a new thrust on market orientation.
The NEP intended to bring down the rate of inflation and to remove imbalances in
payment.
It intended to move towards higher economic growth rate and to build sufficient
foreign exchange reserves.
It wanted to achieve economic stabilization and to convert the economic in to a
market economy by removing all kinds of unnecessary restrictions.
It wanted to permit the international flow of goods, services, capital, human
resources and technology, without many restrictions.
Beginning with mid-1991, the govt. has made some radical changes in its policies
bearing on trade, foreign investment exchange rate, industry, fiscal of fairs
etc…The various elements, when put together, constitute an economic policy
which marks a big departure from what has gone before.
The main trust of the new economic policy is “liberalization”. The essence of this
policy is that greater freedom is to be given to the entrepreneur of any industry,
trade or business and that governmental control on the same is reduced to the
minimum.
PRIVATIZATION
Privatization is a managerial approach that has attracted the interest of many
categories of people academicians, politicians, government employee players of
the private sector and public on the whole. Privatization has an adverse impact on
the employee morale and generates fear of dislocation or termination more likely it
also adds on to the apprehension pertaining to accountability and quality. Experts
both advocate and criticize Privatization making it more or less provocative
decision that calls for diligent scurrying by the decision makers in assessment of
process and cons attached to the concerned policy.
In India Privatization has been accepted with a lot of resistance and has been
dormant initially during the inception period of economic Liberalization in the
country. The article intends to analyze the present status of Privatization in India
and summarize its advantages and disadvantages in context with the Indian
economy. Privatization is also one of the aspects other new economic policy which
came to take shape in the decade 1990. The term “Privatization ” can notes wide
range of ideas. But the broad meaning of Privatization is that in the economic field
much broader role is to be agencies and the role of the public sector activities is to
be limited.
The process of Privatization has been triggered with the main intention of improving
industrial efficiency and to facilitate the inflow of foreign investments.
1. It also wants to make the public sector undertakings strong able efficient
companies. It recommends a change in the role of the government from that of the
“owner manager” to that of a mere “controller” or “regular”.
2. It also intend to ensure efficient utilization of all types of resources including
human resources.
3. Privatization insists on the government to concentrate on the area such as education
administration and infrastructure and to give up the responsibility of looking after
business and running industries. It is expected to strengthen the capital market by
following appropriate trade policies.
GLOBALIZATION
Globalizations represent one of the aspects of the new economic policy lunched in
the decades of 1980 and 1990s. The new economic policy has also made the
economy out wardly oriented such that its activities are now to be governed both
by domestic market and the world market.
The tem Globalization was first coined in 1980s . But even before this there were
interaction among nations. But in the modern days Globalization has launched all
spheres of life such as economy, education, technology, cultural phenomenon ,
social aspects etc……the term global village is also frequently used to high light
the significance of the Globalization . “ Globalization of production refers to the
integration of economic activities by units of private capital on awaked scale .”S.K
Misra and V.K Pury “stated that in simple terms Globalization means integrating
economy of a country with the world economy.”
The industrial policy means the procedures, principles, policies rules and
regulations which control the industrial undertaking of the country and pattern of
industrialization. It explains the approach of Government in context to the
development of industrial sector. In India the key objective of the economic policy
is to achieve self-reliance in all sectors of the economy and to develop socialistic
pattern of society. The industrial policy in the pre-reform period i.e. before1991
put greater emphasis on the state intervention in the field of industrial
development. These policies no doubt have resulted into the creation of diversified
industrial structure but caused a number of inefficiencies, distortions and rigidities
in the system. Thus during late 70’s and 80’s, Government initiated liberalization
measures in the industrial policy framework. The drastic liberalization measures
were however, carried out in 1991.
OBJECTIVES:
The New Industrial Policy,1991 seeks to liberate the industry from the shackles of
licensing system Drastically reduce the role of public sector and encourage foreign
participation in India’s industrial development. The broad objectives of New Industrial
Policy are as follows:
(i) Liberalising the industry from the regulatory devices such as licenses and controls.
(iii) Increasing competitiveness of industries for the benefit of the common man.
(iv) Ensuring running of public enterprises on business lines and thus cutting their losses.
(v) Providing more incentives for industrialisation of the backward areas, and
The idea of Five year planning was taken from the erstwhile Soviet Union under socialist
influence of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
An overview of all plans implemented in India is given below. The first eight plans
had their emphasis on growing the public sector with massive investments in basic and
heavy industries, but since the launch of the Ninth Plan in 1997, attention has shifted
towards making government a facilitator in growth.
Planning without an objective is like driving without any destination. There are generally
two sets of objectives for planning, namely the short-term objectives and the long-term
objectives. While the short-term objectives vary from plan to plan, depending on the
immediate problems faced by the economy, the process of planning is inspired by certain
long term objectives. In case of our Five Year plans, the long-term objectives are:
All the Indian Five Year Plans have given primary importance to higher growth of real
national income. During the British rule, Indian economy was stagnant and the people were
living in a state of abject poverty. The Britishers exploited the economy both through
foreign trade and colonial administration. While the European industries flourished, the
Indian economy was caught in a vicious circle of poverty. The pervasive poverty and
misery were the most important problem that has to be tackled through Five Year Plan.
During the first three decades of planning, the rate of economic growth was not so
encouraging in our economy Till 1980, the average annual growth rate of Gross Domestic
Product was 3.73 percent against the average annual growth rate of population at 2.5
percent. Hence the per-capita income grew only around 1 percent. But from the 6th plan
onwards, there has been considerable change in the Indian economy. In the Sixth, Seventh
and Eight plan the growth rate was 5.4 percent, 5.8 percent and 6.8 percent respectively.
The Ninth Plan, started in 1997 targeted a growth rate of 6.5 percent per annum and the
actual growth rate was 6.8 percent in 1998 - 99 and 6.4 percent in 1999 - 2000. This high
rate of growth is considered a significant achievement of the Indian planning against the
concept of a Hindu rate of growth.
(ii) Economic Self Reliance
Self reliance means to stand on one’s own legs. In the Indian context, it implies that
dependence on foreign aid should be as minimum as possible. At the beginning of
planning, we had to import food grains from USA to meet our domestic demand. Similarly,
for accelerating the process of industrialization, we had to import, capital goods in the form
of heavy machinery and technical know-how. For improving infrastructure facilities like
roads, railways, power, we had to depend on foreign aid to raise the rate of our investment.
By the end of the fifth plan, Indian became self-sufficient in food-grain production. In
1999-2000, our food grain production reached a record of 205.91 million tons. Further, in
the field of industrialization, now we have strong capital industries based on infrastructure.
In case of science and technology, our achievements are no less remarkable. The proportion
of foreign aid in our plan outlays have declined from 28.1 percent in the Second Plan to 5.5
percent in the Eighth Plan. However, in spite of all these achievements, we have to
remember that hike in price of petroleum products in the international market has made
self-reliance a distant possibility in the near future.
Social justice means to equitably distribute the wealth and income of the country among
different sections of the society. In India, we find that a large number of people are poor;
while few lead a luxurious life. Therefore, another objective of development is to ensure
social justice and to take care of the poor and weaker sections of the society. The Five-Year
Plans have highlighted four aspects of social justice. They are:
(ii) Establishment of social and economic equity and removal of regional disparity;
Thus the Five Year Plans have targeted to uplift the economic condition of socio-
economically weaker sections like scheduled caste and tribes through a number of target
oriented programmes. In order to reduce the inequality in the distribution of landed assets,
land reforms have been adopted. Further, to reduce regional inequality specific
programmes have been adopted for the backward areas of the country.
In spite of various efforts undertaken by the authorities, the problem of inequality remains
as great as ever. According to World Development Report (1994) in India the top 20
percent of household enjoy 39.3 percent of the national income while the lowest 20 percent
enjoy only 9.2 percent of it. Similarly, another study points out that the lowest 40 percent
of rural household own only 1.58 percent of total landed asset while the top 5.44 percent
own around 40 percent of land. Thus the progress in the field of attaining social justice has
been slow and not satisfactory.
Before independence, our economy was backward and feudal in character. After attainment
of independence, the planners and policy makers tried to modernize the economy by
changing the structural and institutional set up of the country. Modernization aims at
improving the standard of living of the people by adopting a better scientific technique of
production, by replacing the traditional backward ideas by logical reasoning's and bringing
about changes in the rural structure and institutions.
These changes aim at increasing the share of industrial output in the national income,
upgrading the quality of products and diversifying the Indian industries. Further, it also
includes expansion of banking and non-banking financial institutions to agriculture and
industry. It envisages modernization of agriculture including land reforms.
Economic stability means to control inflation and unemployment. After the Second Plan,
the price level started increasing for a long period of time. Therefore, the planners have
tried to stabilize the economy by properly controlling the rising trend of the price level.
However, the progress in this direction has been far from satisfactory.
Thus the broad objective of Indian plans has been a non-inflationary self-reliant growth
with social justice.
Need of Economic Planning for the rapid economic development, the under developing
and developing countries have taken the shelter under economic planning. Thus, the
arguments in favour of economics planning in underdeveloped and developing countries
may be started as under:
Therefore, the State must come to the forefront action. The underdeveloped countries have
remained almost stationary.
This task of their development is a big task. These countries need a big push. It is only
possible through a comprehensive planning. Thus the Government should follow
comprehensive planning for the development of underdeveloped countries.
Thus, the overall gains are maximized by making proper plan adjustments. Thus a specified
investment can be best utilized taking a macro-economic view to have appropriate social as
well as private gains. This strongly favors a planned development specially in case of less
developed countries.
Agriculture plays a vital role in the Indian economy. Over 70 per cent of the rural
households depend on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood. Agriculture, along
with fisheries and forestry, accounts for one-third of the nation's GDP and is its single
largest contributor. Agriculture provides food to all the citizens of our country.
A number of the agricultural commodities like tea, coffee, spices and tobacco constitute our
main items of exports. This amount to almost 15% of our total exports. Hence agriculture
provides foreign exchange which helps us to buy machines from abroad. It also maintains a
balance of payments and makes our country self-sufficient.
Development of tertiary sector
Tertiary sector provides helpful services to the industries and agriculture like banking,
warehousing etc. Internal trade is mostly done in agricultural produce. For example,
various means of transport get bulk of their business by the movement of agricultural
goods.
Revenue to the government
State government get a major part of their revenue in terms of land revenue, irrigation
charges, agricultural income tax etc.Central government also earns revenue from export
duties on the agricultural production. Moreover our government can raise substantial
revenue by imposing agricultural income tax. However this has not been possible due to
some political reasons.
International importance
Our agriculture has brought fame to the country. India enjoys first position in the world as
far as the production of tea and groundnuts are concerned.
Internal trade
Agriculture plays a important role in the internal trade. It is because of the fact that 90% of
our population spends 60% of their income on the purchase of the items like food, tea, milk
etc.
Prof. Gunar Myrdal has rightly remarked, "It is the agricultural sector that the battle for
long term economic development of India will be won or lost."
IN fact the prosperity of agriculture is the prosperity of Indian economy. We should not
build industries at the cost of agricultural land
and livestock on a farm. .
(b) It supplies cereals, vegetables and other food items to the industrial labourer and
fodders for the domestic animals in the dairy industries on a regular basis.
(c) Farmer-households used to save their money in the bank and other financial institutions
which ultimately is used by the industry owners in the form of investment.
(d) Both for consumer and capital goods Industries agriculture sector gives a ready market
for the finished products.
(b)To increase the market for finished agricultural goods some infrastructural development
like roads, railway, storage etc. are very essential. In this connection industry plays a vital
role.
CHOICE OF TECHNOLOGY
According to Frenkel, “Technology change is not a mere important in the technical know –
how. It means much more than this. It should be preceded by sociological change also, a
willingness and desire on the part of the community to modify their social, political and
administrative institution so as to make them fit with new techniques of production and
faster tempo of economic activity.” But the absence of technological change means end of
growth after a point.
However, the modern technology is changing rapidly and today no country can hope to
maintain steady advancement unless it keeps pace with modern technological
advancement or change. Today, the main problems of underdeveloped and developing
countries are:
1. Low production
2. Low productivity
3. High cost of production
4. Increases in demand existence of traditional technology
The economic development of a country lies in technological change because both are
closely related with each other.
(3) Decentralisation:
The use of labour intensive techniques will confer the benefits of decentralisation and avoid
the evils of factory system. As these techniques are invariably associated with small and
cottage industries and hence they can be fruitful in the establishment of an economically
decentralised society. The present democratic governments have desired to attain
decentralisation with social justice.
(i) Labour intensive technique is static and of short term in nature which cannot be applied
in the long run period.
(ii) As this technique leads the redistribute incomes in favour of those who have low
marginal propensity to save, this result low rate of capital formation.
(iii) There is no possibility of improved and more advanced skill during the course of
labour intensive techniques.
During 7th Five year plan, on an average 50,000 crore of rupees were invested at the
beginning in public sector enterprises which brought a remarkable contribution in the field
of economic development Needless to mention here that these public sector enterprises
covered all economy sector.
(f) To introduce certain activities to take the benefit of foreign aid and co-operation in the
public sector;
(h) To protect the interest of small farmers by transferring all private licenses to the
corporations of agricultural reforms;
(j) To make a social control on long term capital by supplying the necessary financial
assistance through public financial institutions which are quite justified?
(k) To supply necessary finance for various development programmes which are essential
for the development of the country?
(l) To make opportunities for employment and to form a rational society this is absolutely
desired;
(m) To re-distribute incomes either by rising wage levels and checking higher salary level
or by supply outputs at a concessional rate to the poor etc.
(n) To generate surplus resources for future growth and development; and
Private sector generally neglects backward regions that lack infrastructure and other
basic facilities such as power, roads, telecommunication, skilled labor etc. PSEs set up
large projects in these areas and spend huge cost to develop such areas. In this manner
PSEs help to achieve balanced regional growth.
4. Employment Generation
The adequate generation of employment opportunities is a major objective of the
public sector enterprises. This sector has provided direct employment to more than 80
percent of organized labor.
In the initial period of development foreign exchange constraints exist due to huge
imports of capital goods and low exportable surplus. PSEs produce importable goods
domestically which tend to save precious foreign exchange and facilitate exports.
6. Resource Mobilization
PSEs mobilize savings through large network of banking and financial institutions.
The profits of PSEs are ploughed back into developmental activities of the country.
Further, PSEs contribute to the Government’s exchequer through payment of tax and
divided.
Investment decisions in many public enterprises are not based upon proper evaluation of
demand and supply, cost-benefit analysis and technical feasibility.
Lack of a precise criterion and flaws in planning have caused undue delays and inflated
costs in the commissioning of projects. Sometimes, projects are launched without clear-cut
objectives and serious thought.
Many projects in the public sector have not been finished according to the time schedule.
Barauni Refinery was commissioned two years behind schedule and the Trombay Fertilizer
plant was delayed by three years thereby causing an increase of Rs. 13 corers in the original
cost estimates.
There is lack of clear-cut objectives and managers in the public sector often find
themselves torn between conflicting goals of profitability and social service.
2. Over-capitalization:
Due to inefficient financial planning, lack of effective financial control and easy
availability of money from the Government, several public enterprises suffer from over-
capitalisation.
4. Overstaffing:
Manpower planning is not effective due to which several State enterprises like Bhilai Steel
have excess manpower. Recruitment is not based on sound labour projections. On the other
hand, posts of Chief Executives remain unfilled for years despite the availability of
required personnel.
5. Under-utilisation of capacity:
One serious problem of the public sector has been low utilisation of installed capacity.
In the absence of definite targets of production, effective production planning and control,
proper assessment of future needs, adequate supply of power and industrial peace, many
undertakings have failed to make full use of their fixed assets.
The average capacity utilisation in more than 50 per cent of the public enterprises has been
less than 75 per cent. There is considerable idle capacity. In some cases productivity is low
on account of poor materials management or ineffective inventory control.
There is no clear-cut price policy for State enterprises and the Government has not laid
down guidelines for the rate of return to be earned by different undertakings.
State enterprises are expected to achieve various socio-economic objectives and in the
absence of a clear directive, pricing decisions are not always based on rational analysis.
In several State enterprises relations between management and labour are far from cordial.
There has been serious and frequent labour trouble in Durgapur Steel Plant, Bharat Heavy
Electricals, Bhopal, and in Bangalore-based undertakings.
Millions of days and output worth crores of rupees have been lost due to strikes and
gheraos. Wage disparities have been the main cause of labour trouble in the public sector.
The percentage increase in the per capita emoluments of public sector employees has been
higher than the percentage increase in consumer price index.
8. Lack of coordination:
Various state enterprises are dependent on one another as the output of one enterprise is the
input of another. For instance, the efficient functioning of power and steel plants depends
on the production and transportation of coal which in turn is dependent upon supplies of
heavy equipment and machinery.
9. Lack of motivation:
Directors and managers of public enterprises have little personal stake. There is little
incentive to work hard and improve efficiency. Centralisation of authority and rigid
bureaucratic control hamper initiative, quick decisions and flexibility of operations.
Personal touch with employees and sensitivity to consumers' needs are lacking.
There is excessive influence and interference by political leaders and civil servants in the
functioning of public enterprises. Parliamentary control reduces the autonomy of these
enterprises.
Increase the standard of public sector enterprises to manage the competition from
both domestic and foreign competitors.
Some of the persons and economists associated with our Planning Commission who
formulated policies on public sector enterprises as well as those who were entrusted with
setting them up and running them played down the idea of profit making by public
enterprises and unduly emphasized the social obligations of public enterprises. It is only
recently that profit aspect of public enterprises has been given due recognition.
2. Inappropriate Location:
An important reason for the low profitability of public enterprises is their uneconomic
location. Usually, public enterprises are set up on the basis of political considerations rather
than economic criteria. There is clamor for locating these enterprises in certain regions on
the part of the ruling party bosses, influential ministers and public leaders even at the threat
of fasts.
In several cases, there is no evidence that a proper study of these aspects was made before
the project was launched. The scale was determined more by a bias for launching a big
project rather than on the basis of economic calculation of production potential and likely
demand. The Committee on Public Undertakings pointed out that tenders were invited
without any project reports in the case of Trombay Fertilizer Project, Hindustan
Insecticides and Indian Telephone Industries.
Most of the public enterprises are regulated by the Government and do not aim at
maximising profits. It is worth noting that most of the products produced by the public
enterprises such as steel, fertilizers, oil etc. are essential inputs for other industries or
sectors of the economy.
9. Political Interference:
The political interference has been forcing the management of public enterprises to give up
sound commercial principles in arriving at vital decisions pertaining to investment,
location, production and pricing policies of public enterprises.
Most often political considerations guide the decision making of the public enterprises.
Ministers and Members of Parliament put pressure on the government about the location of
the public sector projects in their constituencies regardless of any economic criteria and
feasibility studies made. This leads to considerable wastage of capital resources.
Conclusion:
The relatively low surpluses created by the public enterprises are attributed to their long
gestation period, the lack, in the initial period, of expert and trained personnel, defective
planning, wrong selling policies and monopolistic nature of various public enterprises
which produced lethargy among the managerial staff.
It is true that there may be losses in the initial stages but the losses should not have become
a permanent phenomenon. The public enterprises suffer from inefficiency and low
productivity due to lack of an effective system of accountability. It is the system of
accountability in the private sector which leads to an efficient utilisation of resources which
ensures profitability.
Private Sector
Private sector includes all different types of individual or corporate enterprises, both
domestic and foreign, engaged in different fields of productive activity. Private sector
enterprises are owned and managed by the private sector. These private sector enterprises
are mostly characterized by certain common characteristics like private initiative, profit
motive and ownership and management in private hands.
In 18th and 19th century, most of the countries of the world adopted the policy of laissez
faire where the Governments followed a policy of non-interference in economic activity by
the State. This had led to huge expansion of private sector in almost all the countries of the
world. In recent times, the private sector has changed its character and is now quite
different from the private enterprises of the past.
Accordingly, the public sector started to play a significant role in different areas; in terms
of investment, turnover, capital formation, import substitution, contribution to export etc.
Even after the huge expansion of the public sector, the private sector still continued to play
a dominant role in all spheres and thereby accounting nearly 80 per cent of the gross
domestic product and about 90 per cent of the total employment. In a narrow sense, private
corporate sector provides a picture about the private sector. Thus, it is quite important to
study the growth of private corporate sector in comparison to that of public sector.
These institutions are providing adequate financial support to different large, medium and
small scale industries, agricultural sector, traders, export oriented units etc. In addition to
these institutions, the Government has set up some other institutions to assist the private
sector in the form of infrastructure, technological development, raw material supply,
marketing arrangements etc.
1. Industrial Development:
During the pre-independence period, the private sector has played a responsible role in
Indian economy where it set up and expanded cotton and jute textiles, sugar, paper, edible
oil, tea etc. After independence, the national government gave sufficient stress on
industrialization.
The private sector also made a serious attempt to invest on industries producing wide range
of intermediate products which include machine tools, chemicals, paints, plastic, ferrous
and non-ferrous metals, automobiles, electronics and electrical goods etc. In this way, the
private sector has developed the consumer goods industry, producing both durables and
non-durables and became self- sufficient in the production of different types of consumer
goods.
2. Agriculture:
In India agriculture and other allied activities like animal husbandry, dairying, poultry etc.
are playing a dominant role as it contributes nearly 30 per cent of GDP and it provided
employment to nearly 67 per cent of the total working population of the country. Such a big
sector is completely owned and managed by the private sector.
3. Trading:
Both the wholesale and retail trade in India are in the hands of private sector. In a big
country like India, having a huge size of population, the entire trading activities are
managed by the private sector in a best possible manner. But in case of scarcity of any
essential commodities, the private businessmen have their natural tendency in resorting to
hoarding and black marketing of such commodities leading to exploitation of the
consumers.
4. Infrastructure:
Private sector is also providing an active support to the infrastructural sector of the country.
Although, the major areas of the infrastructural sector lies in the hands of public sector but
still the private sector is participating in those areas which remain open for it. Private sector
has been playing dominant role in respect of road transport, water transport etc. from the
very beginning.
5. Services Sector:
The services sector of the country is almost totally under the control of the private sector.
The entire community and personal services, which contributed nearly 11.1 per cent of
GDP in 1994-95, is entirely managed by the private sector. The entire professional
services, repairing services, domestic services, entertainment services etc. are solely
rendered by the private sector throughout the country.
6. Role in the Indian Economy:
The private sector is playing an important role in Indian economy. The importance of this
sector in the economy of the country can be visualized from the fact that it contributes to
the major portion of national income and employment.
Again, as per 1991 census, the percentage of population working in the government sector,
including public enterprises and government administration was only 7 per cent and the
remaining 93 per cent of the working population are engaged in the private sector. Thus,
even after making a huge volume of investments in the public sector and completing more
than 50 years of planning, Indian economy is still broadly based on the private sector.
The importance of these industries can be visualized from the fact that in 2001-02 the small
scale and cottage industries, numbering 34.42 lakh units, have generated employment to the
extent of 192.23 lakh, produced output worth Rs. 6,90,316 crore and contributed nearly 29
per cent of the total exports of the country.
Joint Sectors
The joint sector represents a new ideology of economic management geared to sub serve a
new economic system.
The term is applied to an undertaking only when both its ownership and control are
effectively shared between public sector agencies on the one hand and a private group on
the other. The basic idea underlying the concept is combination of joint ownership, joint
control and professional management.
According to JRD Tata a joint sector enterprise is intended to form a partnership between
the private sector and the Govt. in which the govt. participation of the capital will not be
less than 26 p.c., the routine management will be normally in the hands of the private sector
partner and control and supervision will be duly exercised by a governing board on which
Government is adequately represented.
The Tata concept of joint sector is heavily private sector oriented, whereas the Dutt
Committee concept of the joint sector was public sector oriented and aimed at curbing
concentration of industries in the private sector
(ii) The State Govt. or their industrial development corporations may set up new companies
jointly with private partners, involving equity participation by both the partners.
(iii) Public financial institutions may, through equity participation or conversion of loans or
debentures into equity, transform enterprises promoted by private entrepreneurs into joint
sector companies.
GOVERNMENT POLICY:
The Govt. accepted the concept of joint sector in its industrial policy decision in 1970 and
1973. The concept of joint sector became very popular after the Report of the Industrial
Licensing Policy Inquiry Committee was submitted in 1969.
However, this is not a new idea. The industrial policy pronouncements even before the Dutt
Committee Report had conceived the idea of joint sector. Indeed, the joint sector as a form
of business existed in India even before Independence.
The idea of the joint sector was implicit in the Industrial Policy Resolutions of 1948 and
1956. The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948 indicated the possibility of the state
securing the cooperation of private enterprise for the establishment of new units even in the
6 industries where only the state was to have the right to set up new units, subject to such
control and regulation as the Central Govt. might prescribe.
The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 indicated the possibility of the state securing the
cooperation of private enterprises in the establishment of new units when the national
interest so requires in the industries listed in Schedule A (i.e., industries the future
development of which had been exclusively reserved for the state).
The basic objective of the joint sector is that public funds should primarily be used to sub
serve the public interest and that their deployment should not result in undue benefits to a
few individuals or business houses. The joint sector has also acquired other objectives such
as serving as an instrument of state initiative in the development of priority industries, in
dispersal of ownership and control over industries and in creating a new class of
entrepreneurs.
The joint sector is conceived as a marriage between the managerial expertise of the private
sector and the financial resources and social orientation of the public sector. It is viewed as
an effective means of achieving a mixed economy. In a sense, joint sector enterprises
represent an application of the concept of mixed economy at the micro level.
2. The rationale for setting up joint sector projects was mainly for developing backward
areas, reducing concentration of economic power and to accelerate industrial development.
But in reality, often the purpose for which the joint sector projects were set up was
unrelated to these basic objectives.
The joint sector enabled private entrepreneurs to promote large projects with less of equity
participation; it also enables them to obtain certain concessions which were denied to
projects in the private sector. Similarly, the main motive for the State in setting up joint
sector projects was to
3. The inter-facing between a purely Govt. agency whose commitment and accountability
are vastly different and a private group whose main motivation is likely to be commercial
profitability is not always smooth.
There is always the dilemma between “over control” of a unit to satisfy the rigor of Govt.
audit on the one hand which, over time, stifles initiative and makes it difficult to operate;
on the other, there is a well-recognized accountability to the public and legislature where
Govt. funds are invested that they are expended wisely.
One, therefore, has to steer clear of these two extremes and ensure that the right “mix” of
freedom and interference which will make the unit grow and expand is achieved.
In Indian economy small-scale and cottage industries occupy an important place, because
of their employment potential and their contribution to total industrial output and exports.
Government of India has taken a number of steps to promote them. However, with the
recent measures, small-scale and cottage industries facing both internal competition as well
as external competition.
These are the industrial undertakings having fixed investment in plant and machinery,
whether held on ownership basis or lease basis or hire purchase basis not exceeding Rs. 1
crore.
(iv) Technology:
Small industries are fairly labour intensive with comparatively smaller capital investment
than the larger units. Therefore, these units are more suited for economics where capital is
scarce and there is abundant supply of labour.
(vi) Flexibility:
Small scale units as compared to large scale units are more change susceptible and highly
reactive and responsive to socio-economic conditions.
They are more flexible to adopt changes like new method of production, introduction of
new products etc.
(vii) Resources:
Small scale units use local or indigenous resources and as such can be located anywhere
subject to the availability of these resources like labour and raw materials.
2. To remove economic backwardness of rural and less developed regions of the economy.
8. To attain self-reliance.
9. To adopt latest technology aimed at producing better quality products at lower costs.
1. Internal Economies:
Internal economies arise within the firm because of the expansion of the size of a particular
firm.
2. External Economies:
External economies arise with the expansion of the industry. These are generally the result
of large scale production and are associated with the advantages of localisation.
3. Division of Labour:
The large scale production is always associated with more and more division of labour.
With the division of labour per worker output increases. Hence, per unit labour cost is
reduced in large scale production.
4. Use of machines:
The large scale production always makes use of machines. So, all the advantages of the use
of machinery are available.
5. More Production:
The large scale industries can produce more goods. For instance, a big sugar factory can
use molasses to make spirits and thus can reduce the cost of production of sugar.
6. Economies of Organisation:
With an increase in the size of the firm, the cost of management is reduced.
ommodity. For these two factories, there must be two managers. But if the scale of
production is enlarged and in one factory we start producing 1000 units of the same
commodity, the work can be supervised by one manager. In this way, in the large scale
production, the salary of one manager is saved. So, the cost of production is reduced.
8. Cheap and Easy Loans:
A large business can secure credit facilities at cheaper rates, because these firms enjoy
credit and reputation in the market due to their fixed assets. Banks and other financial
institutions willingly advance loans to these enterprises at a very low rate of interest.
9. Ancillary Industries:
With the development of large scale production, there arise many small industries which
use its by-products or supply inputs to it. Suppose, when the production of steel is
increased, many other auxiliary industries develop. The development of auxiliary industries
contributes to the industrialisation of the area and the industry itself.
12. Research:
The large scale production is conducive for the development of technology also. With
larger amount of capital and financial resources, the large scale firms can afford to spend
more on research and experiments which ultimately lead to the discovery of new machines
and cheaper techniques of production.
2. Danger of Over-Production:
The large scale organisation results in over production at times, so demand cannot be
properly estimated. At last, prices fall and depression sets in.
3. Less Supervision:
A large scale producer cannot pay full attention to every detail in various departments.
Costs often rise on account of the dishonesty of workers. Thus, due to inefficient and
inadequate supervision, the cost of production goes up.
4. Monopoly:
The large scale production results in the localisation of industries. As a result, the bigger
fish swallows the smaller ones, and cut-throat competition and monopolies result.
5. Class Struggle:
The large scale production gives rise to class struggle, the struggle between the labourers
and the capitalists. Their interests cannot go together, as they are very different from each
other. As a result, there is a struggle between the two groups.
6. Dependence on Foreign Markets:
A large producer has generally to depend on the foreign markets. The foreign markets may
be cut off by wars, etc. This makes the business risky.
7. Possibility of War:
The large scale production increases the possibilities of wars. Big producers make attempts
to sell their goods in the foreign markets and try to capture them by fair and foul means,
thereby exposing the world to wars and struggles.
8. Lack of Adaptability:
As huge capital is invested in the large scale production, it is very difficult to bring about a
change in the scale of production according to the circumstances.
CAPITAL FORMATION
Capital formation is a term used to describe the net capital accumulation during
an accounting period for a particular country, and the term refers to additions of capital
stock, such as equipment, tools, transportation assets and electricity. Countries need capital
goods to replace the current assets that are used to produce goods and services, and if a
country cannot replace capital goods, production declines. Generally, the higher the capital
formation of an economy, the faster an economy can grow its aggregate income.
1. Creation of Saving:
The creation of saving is the first stage of capital formation. It means that there must be an
increase in the volume of real savings, so that the sources may be used for the production
of consumption purposes and further may be released for other purposes. Therefore, for
capital formation, some current consumption has to be sacrificed for obtaining a larger part
of the flow of consumer goods in the near future.
For instance, if a community saves nothing and consumes whatsoever it produces, no new
capital will come into existence which will result in fall in the production of consumer
goods in future with the wearing out of the existing capital assets. Therefore, it is essential
that people should save from the present consumption. The creation of savings depends
upon the power to save, will to save and facility to save.
2. Mobilisation of Saving:
The next process of saving is that it must be mobilised by converting into investible funds.
For this purpose, the existence of banking and other financial institutions are must. Banking
facilities give considerable help to promote high rate of mobilisation and channelization of
saving. In brief, sound and efficient banking system enables investors to invest more and
more.
3. Investment of Saving:
The final stage is the investment of saving into capital goods. It needs a class of efficient,
dynamic, daring and skilled entrepreneurs. An able and efficient entrepreneur is always
ready to make investments for the production of capital goods. In short, both saving and
investment are crucial for capital accumulation.