India's most impactful economic movement

The 1991 Project commemorates 30+ years of India's economic liberalization, promoting discourse on growth-centered economic reforms.

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The 1991 Timeline

Explore the original speeches, documents, and reports that unleashed the 1991 economic reforms.

Political and Economic Turmoil

August-November 1990

Moody’s places India on a credit watch with the possibility of a ratings downgrade because of unfolding political and economic events. In the aftermath of communal tensions Prime Minister V.P. Singh's government falls in November, 1990. His successor Chandra Shekhar forms a politically fragile minority government.

IMF supports India

December 1990

Senior bureaucrats along with Gopi Arora, India's representative at IMF, mobilize support to manage India’s balance of payments crisis. Their efforts lead to an agreement that the Indian government will implement reforms to liberalize the rupee and manage the fiscal deficit, with the IMF supporting a US$ 1.8 billion loan.

Government of the day falls

March 6, 1991

Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar resigns after 5 months in office, precipitating fresh elections.

S&P downgrades India

March 7, 1991

S&P downgrades India’s sovereign rating to BBB- for long term credit risk, and A- for short term credit risk.

An assassination

May 21, 1991

Rajiv Gandhi, the front-runner in the elections, is assassinated while campaigning, resulting in a leadership vacuum and a power struggle within the Indian National Congress.

Reports, documents and speeches mentioned in the timeline

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The Reformers

Click on the pictures to learn more about the people who made it happen.

P.V. Narasimha Rao

P.V. Narasimha Rao

Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh

P. Chidambaram

P. Chidambaram

Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Amar Nath Verma

Amar Nath Verma

Naresh Chandra

Naresh Chandra

Jairam Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh

Suresh Mathur

Suresh Mathur

Deepak Nayyar

Deepak Nayyar

Rakesh Mohan

Rakesh Mohan

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The 1991 Documents

Explore the original speeches, documents, and reports that unleashed the 1991 economic reforms.

Read original speeches, documents, and reports that led to the 1991 reforms

“My motto is - trade, not aid.”

PM Narasimha Rao's Speech on the 9th of July

“Neither the Government nor the economy can live beyond its means year after year.”

FM Manmohan Singh's July 24 Budget Speech

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The Team

Connect with the people who make the 1991 project possible.

Shruti Rajagopalan

Shruti Rajagopalan

Senior Research Fellow

Kadambari Shah

Kadambari Shah

Research Associate

Shreyas Narla

Shreyas Narla

Research Scholar

Ankita Dinkar

Ankita Dinkar

Researcher

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