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In this articles writer has describe history about India, in 1991, India made a firm break with the past. Faced with bankruptcy, the government made a commitment to economic reforms in order to meet the conditions of a 'structural adjustment programme' devised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The pact envisioned a withdrawal of the license-permit regime under which the government controlled private-sector business and progressive privatization of the public sector. The government also made a commitment to liberalize imports and facilitate exports. Further, the 'structural adjustment programme’ called for a reduction and eventual elimination of subsidies to the agriculture sector, the public sector and to various influential lobbies. Despite the fact that the government did not have majority backing in Parliament, where the ruling Congress party controlled just 220 of the 540-plus seats, about current affairs reforms proposal did not face much opposition. Traditionally, the government spells out its economic policies in the Finance Bill that is proposed to and passed by Parliament at the end of February each year. For most interested parties, therefore, the Finance Bill, which contains the government's budgeted taxation and expenditure proposals, is a major policy document. The significance of the Finance Bill has become even more acute since the reforms were introduced in 1991. All the major television networks carry the budget hearings live during prime time, followed by hours of analysis. Not to be left behind, the print media devote reams and reams of newsprint to news and analysis. Many newspapers carry the Finance Bill verbatim and even bring out special supplements. Thus, in July 1991, the nation watched as the government introduced a budget to incorporate some of the conditions laid down by the IMF. To everyone's delight, the Congress government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao found no difficulty in securing the approval of Parliament despite the fact that it was woefully short of a majority. Ecstatic commentators hailed the budget as an indication that there was a broad all party consensuses on economic reforms. In the event, the government virtually repudiated the socialistic policies of the past four decades. India looked set to join the global business mainstream. The next two civil services exam annual budgets that followed were even more liberal in approach. However, concerted opposition from business interests hurt by the reforms forced the government to slow the reforms. Consequently, the budgets of 1994 and 1995 were lackadaisical. In 1996, the Congress government lost the national election. A coalition government took over and persisted with the reforms. Its 1997 budget seemed likely to push the reforms forward again. Widely hailed as a 'dream budget', the 1997 proposals took an axe to the punitive tax regime in India. However, the slowdown of the reform process in the previous two years proved to be formidable. It had substantially skewed the macroeconomic picture. The economy went into a tailspin. Industrial growth slowed, exports dwindled and recession loomed large on the horizon. Business confidence declined as stagnant revenues and rising costs took their toll on profits. The capital markets turned sluggish after a prolonged period of unprecedented growth. At the same time, India's much vaunted political stability came under a cloud as the ruling coalition split and brought down the government.
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