India planning for industralization : industrialization and trade policies since 1951 c.1

IN writing a scholarly book, on a major subject such as India's experience with industrialization, we expected to run into several difficulties: and we did, in ample measure. Much of the problem arises from the difficulty of getting in

formation in a usable form. This reflects, in turn, the still in adequate character of empirical research in India: data improve when there is a demand for them. We have thus had to spend an enormous amount of time getting together quite elementary data, requiring adjustments in classifications, etc. An excellent example of these problems is Chapter 5, where we decided to put together data on imports, production, exports, taxes, etc., on a comparable commodity classification for four years: 1951, 1957, 1961, and 1963 (the last year for which we could do this). The purpose was to provide some solid statistical basis for our policy discussions. The astonishing thing was that, while several input-output tables had been constructed in India in the past few years, for different years, they were not on a comparable basis and we just had to carry through our work as if from scratch. This work alone took four months of our time, despite a conscientious research assistant and access to statistician friends who knew the sources well.