Today, any thought about India triggers a sense of pride and an inexplicable trepidation. Amir Ullah Khan of Indian Development Fund puts things in perspective about our beloved India.

A reformed India is very much in the news these days. A number of analysts argue on how India has shed its image of a developing economy beset with numerous problems. The new image that has emerged is of a robust nation which is clearly the fastest growing democracy in the world. Democracy in a nation riddled with sectarian and caste lines of divide has finally paid dividends. The heterogeneity and the diversity which were at one time seen as debilitating are the new reasons for success. Population that was a scourge of policy making is India's biggest asset as it increasingly gets younger, more educated and better skilled.

After 50 odd years of incurring the fixed costs of democracy and planned development, the Indian reform experiment is now facing its moments of truth. And even the worst cynic would admit that the results are impressive. A growth rate that has been upwards of 5% through the last decade, the services sector contributing to more than 50% of the GDP and a stability in capital markets and exchange rates that are remarkable. I call the reform experience an experiment, for that is what it was. Significantly different from reform measures witnessed throughout the developing world since the 1970s. An opening up on the external front, a careful and circumspect reform on the domestic front. Decisive changes made on direct taxes, while gradual changes made on the indirect tax front. Changing market structures in technological sectors and status quoism on agriculture and textiles, the largest employers in the country.

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