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The historical roots of India’s service-led development: a sectoral analysis of Anglo-Indian productivity differences, 1870-2000

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Broadberry, Stephen and Gupta, Bishnupriya (2007) The historical roots of India’s service-led development: a sectoral analysis of Anglo-Indian productivity differences, 1870-2000. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick, Department of Economics. Warwick economic research papers (No.817).

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Abstract

Overall labour productivity in India was already only around 15 per cent of the UK level between the early 1870s and the late 1920s. Between 1929 and 1950 India fell further behind and remained at around 10 per cent of the UK level until the 1970s. India has been catching-up since the 1970s, but by the end of the twentieth century was still further behind than in the late nineteenth century. Agriculture has played an important role in India’s relative decline to 1950 and subsequent delay in catching up, since comparative India/UK labour productivity in this sector has declined continuously and agriculture still accounts for around two-thirds of employment in India. Comparative India/UK labour productivity in industry has fluctuated around a level of around 15 per cent. The only sector to exhibit trend improvement in comparative India/UK labour productivity over the long run is services, rising from around 15 per cent to around 30%. India’s recent emergence as a dynamic service-led economy appears to have long historical roots.

Item Type:

Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)

Subjects:

H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
D History General and Old World > DS Asia
D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain

Divisions:

Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Economic development -- India, Labor productivity -- India, Service industries -- India, India -- Economic conditions, Great Britain -- Economic conditions

Series Name:

Warwick economic research papers

Publisher:

University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Place of Publication:

Coventry

Official Date:

2 October 2007

Dates:

Date	Event
2 October 2007	Published

Number:

No.817

Number of Pages:

Institution:

University of Warwick

Status:

Not Peer Reviewed

Access rights to Published version:

Open Access

Version or Related Resource:

Broadberry, S.N. and Gupta, B. (2010). The historical roots of India’s service-led development: a sectoral analysis of Anglo-Indian productivity differences, 1870–2000. Explorations in Economic History, 47(3), pp. 264-278. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/3322 ; Broadberry, Stephen and Gupta, Bishnupriya (2008). The historical roots of India’s service-led development : a sectoral analysis of Anglo-Indian productivity differences, 1870-2000. In: Economic History Society Annual Conference, University of Nottingham. Nottingham, 28-30 Mar 2008. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/46019

Related URLs:

References:

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Ministry of Commerce and Industry (1954), Fifth Census of Indian Manufactures, 1950, Calcutta: Government of India Press.
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Secretary of State for India (1939), Statistical Abstract for British India, with Statistics, where available, relating to certain Indian States from 1927-28 to 1936-37, London: HMSO.
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