Socio-Economic Impact of Globalization in Contemporary India: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

The article is a conceptual analysis of the impact of globalization, based upon the observations of the writer, on the contemporary socio-economic scenario of Indian economy as a whole. Though, without any first hand empirical data, the facts collected and furnished in the article have been obtained from secondary sources. With much fanfare, the globalization policy was adopted by the Indian Government in early 1990's, and the economy was opened through various reforms, concentrating upon liberalization, i. e. lifting economic restrictions carried on hitherto, by closed-economic-policy. The idea of globalization was best suited to the developed western countries, especially, America; and through the World Trade Organization, they pursued the developing third world countries to open their economic boundaries for the consumption/absorption of their surplus products. With the opening of the economy, the underdeveloped countries got the benefits of much needed capital and technology. The paper discusses that though globalization has benefitted the Indian economy in many ways; however, this has vastly increased the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.’ Millions of people have been lagging behind the technological and economic growth due to their backwardness and its continued perpetuation. This has widely affected the socioeconomic fabric of the country.