classical Economic Thoughts of India:

Classical economic thoughts of India are based on the ideas of Vedas, Upanishads, Epics etc. During
the reign of Chandragupta, i.e., on 300 B.C., Kautilya wrote a valuable book on economics entitled
“Arthashastra”. This book depicts a complete picture of the rural and agrarian economy of ancient
India relating to its agriculture, land relations, cottage industries, economic structure etc.

Most of the classical economists of the world broadly accepted the ideas of Kautilya as a base for
productivity of labour, exchequer (Revenue), tax, price determination, agriculture etc.
Kautilya’s “Arthashastra” and various other ethics were primarily’ concerned with the problem of
production and exchange while the other religious discourses primarily dealt with the problem of
consumption and distribution.

Indian philosophers during ancient times stressed much on the equal distribution of produced
commodities among the general masses of the society.

Economic Thoughts of Medieval Period in India:

The Medieval period, which had its start from eighth century and continued upto eighteenth
century, could not throw much light on the evolution of Indian economic thoughts. During this
period kings like Ala-u-din Khilji, Mohammad Bin Tuglaque, Ferozshah, Shershah, Akbar etc.
introduced certain measures for economic reforms for the upliftment of the Indian economy.

Among various measures for economic reforms introduced during this period, land reforms and
revenue reforms measures off Shershah, revenue reforms and other economic reforms of Akbar
were remarkable.

But most of the Indian kings and queens of medieval period were very much preoccupied with
immaterial objects at the cost of material objects totally leading towards unnecessary wastage of
resources. Thus after Kautilya near about 2000 years have passed away without having any serious
development on Indian economic thoughts.

Economic Thoughts of Nineteenth Century in India:

Since the inception of British regime in India, i.e., during the nineteenth century, modern economic
thinking started to develop gradually. During those days economic thoughts of western countries
started to influence gradually the development of Indian economic thoughts.

Moreover, Indian economists also started to concentrate on analysing the problems of poverty and
colonialism prevailing in the country during those days.

During this nineteenth century some renowned Indian economists like Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-
1917), Mahadev Govinda Ranade (1866-1915) and Ramesh Chandra Dutta (1848-1919) had analysed
the problem of poverty in India with a new dimension.

Dadabbai Naoroji made a detailed analysis on the exploitation of Indian economy by the British
regime and advocated for popular protectionism. Naoroji was also the first person in India who
made an estimate of national income in India out of his personal effort.