Economic Reforms: 35 years on

This will be a special webinar, looking back at the historic economic reforms of 1991. To mark 35 years of reforms, which ushered in liberalisation through measures like abolition of the licence raj and doing away with public sector monopolies in industries such as telecom, civil aviation and power, the webinar will have a top bureaucrat of the time Montek Singh Ahluwalia share his memories when history was being made by the Narasimha Rao-led government. Ahluwalia, who was commerce secretary and then economic affairs secretary in 1991, has often been described as a core architect of the reforms alongside then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. Industrialist Naushad Forbes, who closely watched business sentiments change dramatically after the announcement of the 1991 reforms, will be another panelist. His commentary on policy and business has referred to the animal spirits of the industry post-1991. On the show, we will also have senior business journalist A K Bhattacharya, who reported on the unshackling of the economy as things unfolded.       
                               

The webinar, which will coincide with a series of special reports on the subject in Business Standard, will discuss how the reforms played out across diverse areas, and what needs to be done now.