India's Innovation Blueprint

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The tipping point eras

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana

Imagine not being able to use a radio that you had just bought. Imagine not being able to take foreign currency out of the country when you travelled overseas. Imagine having to pay up to 300 per cent in customs duty on a tape recorder or a bottle of perfume when you entered the country. Such was India in the 1970s and 1980s – a nation that stood in the way of its own progress.

Most Indians have forgotten the era when they needed clearance from the Indian central bank for traveller’s cheques. Or the time they were delayed at customs over duties on perfumes, imported wine or electronics. Haggling over imported items such as a camera, jewellery, ...