The Planning Commission was set up in March 1950. The first Five-Year Plan ran from 1951 to 1956 and stressed agriculture and irrigation.
The second plan, based on the Mahalanobis model, stressed heavy industry and led to the Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur steel plants.
The Government nationalised 14 major banks in 1969, and six more in 1980.
From the mid-1960s, high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and irrigation boosted wheat and rice output. M. S. Swaminathan is its Indian architect.
Led by Verghese Kurien on the Amul model, it made India one of the world's largest milk producers.
After a foreign-exchange crisis, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh began liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.
On 8 November 2016, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were withdrawn from circulation.
The Goods and Services Tax replaced many central and state taxes on 1 July 2017. The GST Council governs it.
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