THE LOST DECADE 2008–18 - How India ’s Growth Story Devolved into Growth without a Story

Sep 21, 2026

Reconstructing India’s shift from high-growth momentum before the global financial crisis to a subsequent period of stalled reform and widening economic unease, the book traces how the “India Growth Story” was disrupted after September 2008 and why recovery repeatedly faltered. It contrasts earlier expansion—rising incomes, construction demand, and city consumption—with later outcomes: subdued lived experience despite GDP growth, job and business frictions, stressed corporate and banking balance sheets, and mounting social discontent. Organized into four chapters, it follows shocks, policy failures, and the slide toward “Growth without a Story.”

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages340

Reading Time14 h 17 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The Shock (2008–09)

A Recovery Destroyed (2009–12)

A Slow Recovery Again (2012–15)

Another Recovery Destroyed (2016–18)

Notes

Acknowledgements

Disclaimer

Follow Penguin

PUJA MEHRA THE LOST DECADE 2008–18 How India ’s Growth Story Devolved into Growth without a Story PENGUIN BOOKS Contents Introduction 1. The Shock (2008–09) 2. A Recovery Destroyed (2009–12) 3. A Slow Recovery Again (2012–15) 4. Another Recovery Destroyed (2016–18) Notes Acknowledgements Disclaimer Follow Penguin Copyright For my Praandhan Shri Radharaman Dev Ju Introduction I n 2017, I was approached to co-author a book on India’s economic policy in the Narendra Modi years. Researching for that proposal convinced me that to understand the apparent crises today—agrarian, rural, investments, banking, manufacturing, stagnation in exports, jobs, informal sector, institutions—requires grappling with the developments ofthe last ten years. Not just the Modi years. What this backward glance reveals is that India was booming, cruising at 8.8 per cent plus economic growth before the start of the worst phase of the global financial crisis in September 2008. 1 This was the first time after Independence that the economy had sustained high growth for three consecutive years. It was an economic boom that lifted living standards of a large section of Indians, even if unequally. Per capita income was growing by 7.4 per cent annually. 2 Big business and, later, even mid-sized firms acquired iconic companies overseas. Demand and wages for construction labour shot up. Project books overflowed. Increments, salaries and hiring went up. If companies set up new offices, factories and businesses, then young Indians bought new houses, all funded by debt. Real estate prices soared. The needs of cities grew. Many more house helps, watchmen, drivers and cooks were required, which rural India supplied. City demographics changed. Lifestyles changed. Consumption baskets changed. The middle class started travelling by air instead of rail. The protein intake among poor families improved. It was as if India’s turn to claim the global spotlight had come. It was finally going to take off. With sustained high growth over an extended period, India could have approached what economists call a ‘take-off’, which means rapid and self-sustained GDP growth. This momentum was called the ‘India Growth Story’. It was this unfolding ‘story’ that the global financial crisis disrupted ten years ago, in September 2008. The immediate task of economic policy changed overnight. It now had to make sure that the ‘India Growth Story’ was not destroyed completely and the impact of the crisis was minimized. The Indian authorities managed this well, but a series of policy failures followed 2009 onwards, almost as soon as the economy rebounded after the initial impact. The ten years from 2008 to 2018—the wasted decade as I call it—saw waning political will for reforms. The end result is that ten years have been lost but the pre-global financial crisis growth momentum has still not been regained. Today, India’s GDP is growing at a world-beating rate, but little on the ground suggests that people are actually feeling better off. There’s no exuberance like before. Economic discontent and insecurity are on the rise, Dalits and farmers are restive, and traditionally land-owning classes are demanding quotas in government jobs. The middle class is palpably disaffected, the informal economy is struggling, and big businesses are no longer aggressively expanding. Balance sheets of the corporate sector and bad-loans-afflicted banks remain stressed. Debt is still not getting repaid. Finding a job is not easy, setting up a business is still difficult, savings earn little. To the average person, the GDP growth showing in the estimates put out by the official statistical apparatus seems out of sync with the day-today experience. The insufficiency of sustainable livelihoods threatens the demographic dividend. It may turn into a demographic nightmare. The ‘India Growth Story’ has devolved into ‘Growth without a Story’. This book, organized into f

FAQs

What does the book mean by “The Lost Decade 2008–18”?

It refers to ten years after the global financial crisis—called a wasted decade—when reform momentum weakened and earlier growth conditions were not fully regained.

How did the global financial crisis affect India’s pre-crisis growth momentum?

The crisis disrupted the “India Growth Story,” slowed the economy for about a year, and then the growth rate rebounded after mid-2009 once emergency measures took effect.

Why does the book describe the outcome as “Growth without a Story”?

Despite strong GDP growth in later years, the lived experience does not match the estimates: economic insecurity rises, discontent spreads, informal activity struggles, and debt repayment and job creation remain difficult.

Sep 21, 2026

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