An economic document, the 'Bombay Plan,' prepared exactly 60 years ago, had a profound impact on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who, later in the early 1990s, was to become the architect of India's financial reforms.
This was revealed by the prime minister himself during the inauguration of the centenary celebrations of J R D Tata.
"As a student of economics in 1950s and later as a practitioner in government, I was greatly impressed by the 'Bombay Plan' of 1944. In many ways, it encapsulated what all subsequent plans have tried to achieve," Singh said.
He said the plan had laid great emphasis on public investment in social and economic infrastructure, in both rural and urban areas, importance of agrarian reforms and agricultural research, setting up educational institutions and a modern financial system.
Describing it as an unprecedented document of that period, he said, when it was read today, six decades later, many of its central propositions still remained relevant.
"Above all, it defined the framework for India's transition from agrarian feudalism to industrial capitalism, but capitalism that is humane and invests in welfare and skills of working people," he said.
He recalled that JRD had played an important role in the conceptualisation of the document along with G D Birla, Purushottamdas Thakurdas, Ardeshir Dalal and John Mathai.
It is worthy of emphasis that nowhere in the developing world had a group of businessmen come together to draw up such a long-term plan for a country, he added.
The Bombay Plan
During the years when World War II was drawing to a close, JRD Tata was thinking of building up India's industrial capacity. He called together other industrialists such as G D Birla and Kasturbhai Lalbhai, and technocrats such as John Mathai, Ardeshir Dalal and A D Shroff and got such an endeavour off the ground. This resulted in January 1944 in a comprehensive document entitled 'A Plan of Economic Development for India,' published part in 1943 and part in 1944.
This plan came to be known as the 'Bombay Plan.'
It was a proposal put forth by Indian industrialists supporting an approach to India's economic development after Independence.
This plan proposed state action in planning equitable growth, protecting national industries against foreign competition, and concentrating on developing heavy industries.
Though leading industrialists, the supporters of the Bombay Plan recognised the dangers of a free-market approach in India's development and sought to work in a partnership with the state.
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