, Columnist
The Fight for India’s 1.4 Billion Consumers Is a Fixed Match
New Delhi’s decision to open up the economy unshackled growth, but it also concentrated power in the hands of a small circle of tycoons.
Paying the price.
Photographer: T. Narayan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Twenty-five years ago, when as many Indians flew annually as they do in a month now, two state-owned airlines controlled half of the domestic aviation market. This March, 57% of the 13 million tickets that got sold were booked with just one private airline.
India’s embrace of capitalism may have brought the country a higher rate of economic growth than in its pre-1990s socialist past, but sectors regulated by the state have largely failed to usher in the muscular competition that gives consumers more choices, better services and lower prices.