Fiscal policy refers to the deliberate adjustments of government spending and tax levels to influence economic activity. This study examines the evolution of India's fiscal policy from 1991 to 2024, tracing the historical trends. The liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG) that began in 1991 had a significant impact on India's fiscal policy, particularly in efforts to control the fiscal deficit. Moreover, in the early 2000s, India introduced the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) in 2003 to monitor the country’s growing fiscal deficit. The implementation of this act led to high economic growth, moderate inflation, and a more disciplined fiscal policy. However, the global financial crisis of 2008 prompted India to adopt counter-cyclical fiscal measures, which included reducing taxes and increasing government spending to mitigate the economic downturn. Following the crisis, the government began focusing on new tax reforms to strengthen revenue collection, culminating in the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, resulted in a significant decline in economic growth. From 2020 to 2024, the economy has been in a recovery phase, dealing with the large-scale shutdown of industries, job losses, and human capital depletion. Despite these challenges, India’s fiscal policy is expected to continue focusing on growth-oriented reforms. With this background, the present study aims to map the evolution of India’s fiscal policy in the last thirty years.

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Tracing India's Fiscal Policy Evolution: From LPG Reforms to Post-pandemic Recovery (1991–2024)

  • Nagendra Kumar Maurya,
  • Shaista Jamal Kidwai

摘要

Fiscal policy refers to the deliberate adjustments of government spending and tax levels to influence economic activity. This study examines the evolution of India's fiscal policy from 1991 to 2024, tracing the historical trends. The liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG) that began in 1991 had a significant impact on India's fiscal policy, particularly in efforts to control the fiscal deficit. Moreover, in the early 2000s, India introduced the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) in 2003 to monitor the country’s growing fiscal deficit. The implementation of this act led to high economic growth, moderate inflation, and a more disciplined fiscal policy. However, the global financial crisis of 2008 prompted India to adopt counter-cyclical fiscal measures, which included reducing taxes and increasing government spending to mitigate the economic downturn. Following the crisis, the government began focusing on new tax reforms to strengthen revenue collection, culminating in the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, resulted in a significant decline in economic growth. From 2020 to 2024, the economy has been in a recovery phase, dealing with the large-scale shutdown of industries, job losses, and human capital depletion. Despite these challenges, India’s fiscal policy is expected to continue focusing on growth-oriented reforms. With this background, the present study aims to map the evolution of India’s fiscal policy in the last thirty years.