Info Nuggets

Hindu rate of growth

The Hindu rate of growth is a controversial and derogatory expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the socialist economy of India before 1991, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income growth averaged 1.3%.

Some argue that the slow Indian growth rate is better attributable to the Government of India’s protectionist and interventionist policies (Licence Raj) rather than to a specific religion or to the attitude of the adherents of a particular religion.

The term contrasts with South Korea’s Miracle on the Han River and the Taiwan Miracle. While these Asian Tigers had similar income level as India in the 1950s, exponential economic growth since then has transformed them into developed countries today. The economy of India has been growing at rate of around 6-8% since economic liberalisation began in the 1990s.

The term was coined by Indian economist Raj Krishna. It suggests that the low growth rate of India, a country with a high Hindu population was in a sharp contrast to high growth rates in other Asian countries, especially the East Asian Tigers, which were also newly independent. This meaning of the term, popularised by Robert McNamara, was used disparagingly and has connotations that refer to the supposed Hindu outlook of fatalism and contentedness.

QII (qualified institutional investor)

In certain countries where financial markets are not fully liberalised, an institutional investor authorised by the local financial regulator to participate in certain types of transaction as long as specific criteria are met. Depending on local regulations and the investment schemes or markets involved, different conditions may be imposed on domestic and foreign institutions (sometimes called qualified domestic institutional investor or QDII, and qualified foreign institutional investor or QFII).

Basel Accords

The Basel Accords refer to the banking supervision Accords (recommendations on banking regulations)—Basel I, Basel II and Basel III—issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). They are called the Basel Accords as the BCBS maintains its secretariat at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland and the committee normally meets there.