India's remarkable economic growth in recent years has made it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Its rapid growth however has been accompanied by widening regional disparities, poverty, malnutrition, and socio-political instability. Understanding India's dualistic development process, and the emergence of the Indian economic miracle are crucial in solving the obstacles India faces in transforming itself into a modern 21st century economy. The Handbook features research on core topics by leading scholars to understand the Indian economic miracle and the key debates confronting the Indian economy. The topics are firmly directed at development issues that are germane to India's experience. The Handbook moves beyond traditional boundaries by featuring areas of research that will be important in the future. Indeed, one of the purposes of the Handbook will be to set an academic standard for current and future research on the Indian economy. The Handbook is divided into seven major sections featuring expert contributions on a host of issues. These range from India's historical development before and after 1947; tackling poverty through innovative public policy; industrialization; implications of the demographic transition; governance and institutional reform; domestic macroeconomic reform as this relates to fiscal rules, monetary policy transmission, banking sector reform, and trade reform; and India's interaction with the world economy as this relates to the WTO, financial crises, and globalization. A final Looking Ahead chapter reflects upon an agenda for economic research in the 21st century. The Handbook is ambitious in scope, and by being broad, it is diverse in its coverage of topics. By providing a unified and comprehensive treatment of India's complex and dynamic development process, it will be a must-read for both researchers who are new to the field, as well as those who want to update and extend their knowledge to the frontier of the field.
