India's energetic sector of the economy is mainly state-planned, but an increasing role of the private sector has allowed for increased the efficiency and competitiveness of Indian companies. However, the Indian bureaucracy still has too much influence, even in what would be considered private ownership, causing huge losses which offset most of the profits made private and public-private corporations. India's middle-way needs changes.
India is still turning away from the socialism it pursued during the mid-20th century. As a result, it is still suffering from the excesses of a state planned economy. Such transitions necessarily take long amounts of time, overcompensation must be avoided too. India's turn towards a mixed-economy has helped position itself as a future world power and despite the challenges that may surge, it must avoid the temptation to return to complete government command and keep moving towards the center, where the government and private roles balance and complement each other, working hand in hand. The question now is: how can India move towards a more capitalistic economy without deterring the economic progress the lower-classes have seen during the last decades? India, literally, has the world to win.
October 2011, The Power and the Glory, the Economist (print edition).
