The Indian economy was built with the help of India’s five-year plan system from 1947 to 2017. NITI Aayog and the Planning Commission (1951-2014) created, implemented, and monitored the Five-Year Plans (2015-2017). The commission’s ex-officio chairman is the prime minister, while the commission’s nominated deputy chairman is a cabinet minister. The commission’s last deputy chairman was Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

First five-year Plan (1951 to 1956 )

The fundamental goal of India’s First five-year plan was to raise people’s living conditions. The government had attempted to rehabilitate landless workers, the majority of whom worked in agriculture. 

• Workers were given cash to conduct experiments and receive agricultural training at various cooperative institutes. The need for soil conservation was also emphasised. Posts and telegraphs, railway services, road tracks, and civil aviation were all improved by the Indian government. A sufficient amount of money was also set up for the industrial sector. In addition, steps were taken to promote the growth of small businesses.

Second Five-year Plan (1956 to 1961)

Agriculture was given a lower priority. In the Second five-year plan, industries were given additional weight. 

The Plan emphasised fast industrialisation, particularly in the heavy and fundamental sectors. Large imports using foreign borrowing were advocated. 

Third five-year Plan (1961 to 1966)

It was thought that the Indian economy had reached a “take-off stage” when it was conceived. Its goal was to make India a “self-sufficient” and “self-generating” economy. Agriculture was given high priority to support exports and industry, based on the experience of the first two plans (agricultural production was considered a limiting element in India’s economic development). 

With the short-lived Sino-Indian War of 1962, India shifted its focus to the country’s security. Thanks to the Green Revolution, agriculture drew attention once more from 1965 to 1966.

Fourth five-year plan (1969 to 1974)

Due to the allies’ refusal to supply crucial equipment and raw resources during the Indo-Pak conflict, the Fourth Plan’s dual objectives of “development with stability” and “progressive achievement of self-reliance” were established. 

• The main focus was on agriculture’s development rate in order to allow other industries to advance.

Fifth five-year plan (1974 to 1979)

When the fifth five-year Plan was drafted, the global economy was in disarray. The Indian economy suffered as a result of this. As a result of the sharp rise in energy and food prices, inflation became unavoidable. As a result, the food and energy sectors were given more focus in the fifth five-year plan.

It proposed to achieve two key goals: “poverty eradication” (Garibi Hatao) and “self-sufficiency.” Promotion of a high rate of growth improved income distribution, and considerable increases in domestic savings rates were seen as crucial instruments.

Sixth five-year plan (1980 to 1985)

The Janata Government Plan was innovative because it broke away from the Nehruvian model of five-year plans. Many things changed in India as a result of the sixth five-year plan. On the one hand, it attempted to strengthen India’s tourism business, while on the other, it aimed to promote the information technology sector.

Target Growth: 5.2% 

Actual Growth: 5.7%

The 6th Five-Year Plan began in 1980 and lasted for another five years, from 1980 to 1985. It aimed to Increased national revenue technological modernisation, ensuring continual reductions in poverty and unemployment through schemes for transferring skills (TRYSEM) and seats (IRDP) and providing slack season work (NREP), population control, and so on.

Seventh five-year plan (1986 to 1990)

• The 6th five-year plan built the basis for economic development. Therefore, the 7th five-year plan got off to a good start. 
• The Congress Party, led by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, implemented the seventh five-year plan. Planned technological advancements were to be emphasised in order to raise industrial production levels.

Eighth five-year plan (1992 to 1997)

The eighth plan has been postponed for two years due to political uncertainty in the country’s capital. 

• During the start of the Plan, the primary challenges were the worsening Balance of Payments position, mounting debt burden, widening budget deficits, industry slowdown, and inflation. During this time, 

Ninth five-year plan (1997 to 2002)

The 9th five-year plan was formulated after 50 years of Indian independence to operate as a vehicle for resolving the country’s economic and social challenges. 

• The Ninth Plan aimed to rely primarily on the private sector – both domestic and foreign – and the state was expected to play a more significant role as a facilitator and to become more involved in the social sector, such as education, health, and infrastructure, where private sector participation was expected to be limited. 

Tenth five-year Plan (2002 to 2007)

Recognising that economic growth cannot be the main goal of a national plan, the Tenth Plan established “monitorable targets” for a few critical development indicators, in addition to the 8% growth target. 

• The goals included closing gender gaps in literacy and wage rates, lowering infant and maternal death rates, improving literacy, increasing access to safe drinking water, and cleaning key polluted rivers, among others. 

Conclusion

Economic and social growth strategies were centralised in the Five-Year Plans (FYPs). The First five-year plan was executed in the late 1920s by Joseph Stalin, then president of the Soviet Union. Since the country had both public and private sectors, India pursued a socialist route as well.

However, the planning here was not as complete as in other countries. In India, planning was exclusively concerned with the governmental sector, not with the private one. 1951 marked the beginning of the First five-year plan of the Soviet Union. In order to achieve equal growth, government spending should be planned rather than left to the whims of the market.