India’s economy since 1991

With foreign exchange reserves enough for only a few weeks of imports, the rupee is devalued. On 24 July, Finance Minister Manmohan Singh’s budget and a new industrial policy scrap most industrial licensing.

The SEBI Act gives the Securities and Exchange Board of India statutory powers.

The National Stock Exchange begins trading shares on a nationwide electronic system.

India is a founding member of the World Trade Organization.

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act sets targets for cutting the government’s deficit.

The rural employment guarantee scheme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, begins in 200 districts.

The collapse of Lehman Brothers shakes Indian markets; the government and the RBI respond with stimulus and interest-rate cuts.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is launched to give every household a bank account.

The National Payments Corporation of India launches the Unified Payments Interface, which goes on to dominate digital payments.

Parliament passes the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

An amended RBI Act creates a Monetary Policy Committee and a formal target of 4% consumer price inflation.

The ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes are withdrawn overnight. The RBI later reports that almost all of the cancelled currency came back to the banks.

The Goods and Services Tax replaces a web of central and state taxes.

A nationwide lockdown begins on 25 March. The economy shrinks in 2020–21, its first full-year contraction in four decades.

Most goods and services move to two main GST rates, 5% and 18%.

The government keeps the RBI’s 4% target, with its 2–6% band, until March 2031.