An industrial policy provides guidelines for the effective co-ordination of the activities of various sectors of the economy. The evolution of industrial policy in India may be studied in this background to see how far it has worked as a potent tool to realize the goal of planned development.
Industrial Policy Resolution, 1948: The IPR, 1948 created a mixed economy reserving a sphere for the private and public sectors. It divided the industries into four groups:
(i) Industries with exclusive Central Govt. monopoly, arms and ammunitions, atomic energies and railway transport.
(ii) Mixed sector - State controlled new undertaking in coal, iron and steel, air craft, telephone, etc.
(iii) Under State resolution and control consumer goods industries, and
(iv) Under cooperative and private enterprises remainder industries. The policy further emphasized the role of cottage and small scale industries and of foreign capital in industrializing the Indian economy.
Industrial Policy Resolution, 1956: In April 1956, the Govt. of India announced its new industrial policy which acted as a turning point of industrial growth in the economy. The new policy was based on certain important economic and political developments in the country, the adoption of the Constitution of India in 1950, the emphasis on socialistic pattern of society, the success of 1st Five Year Plan and the launching of 2nd Five Year Plan with emphasis on industrialization.
The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 laid down the various objectives as follows:
(1) To accelerate the growth-rate of the economy:
(2) To speed up industrialization;
(3) To expand the