India's economic growth was negative more often before 1947 than after

The average growth in the 50 years leading to Independence was 0.06%

Till Independence, negative growth was more frequent for the Indian economy than after. Growth was negative in 27 of 50 years leading to 1947, compared to 11 in the subsequent half century.

This analysis is based on data from Maddison Project Database 2018, based on work by economist Angus Maddison. It allows for comparisons of real gross domestic product on a per capita basis across historical periods.

The 2018 version of the database is based on work done by Robert Inklaar, Harmen de Jong, Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zandeni in their paper “Rebasing ‘Maddison’: New Income Comparisons and