Reforms and Development Models in India. Could the Private Sector Help to Solve the Crisis in the Public Sector?

India is, along with Brazil, Russia and China, one of the so-called emerging countries likely to play a crucial role in the international economy in the future. Quite apart from its geographical size (a subcontinent) and its huge population (more than a billion inhabitants in 2004), India’s rapid growth comes from the opening up of the economy and its strength in the key sector of information technologies. However, as Joël Ruet shows in this article, India remains a two-tier economy, with a (tiny) minority benefiting from development while the vast majority – rural and poor – is still largely left behind. The much-hoped for middle class, which would be the key to moving to a higher level of development, is slow in emerging, mainly because of problems with the central government system, which is struggling to modernize the infrastructures required and to make allowance for the country’s enormous diversity. After a brief sketch of this vast country, Joël Ruet points out what the current structural constraints are and shows how the private sector (whose features he describes in some detail) could intervene – not to supplant but to complement the public sector. He argues that such a public-private partnership would make a crucial contribution to promoting economic development in India.