+1, all the things that were said about India are true about Malaysia, Singapore, and to various degrees within Vietnam and Thailand. Yet these countries are all richer than India.

It is still true today as Lky said 50ish years ago. The bureaucracy of India is federalized yet overly centralized.

When the city governor must ask for permission to their own money from the federal when yet they are so far away, there is nothing efficient. The powers are yet so powerful yet blind at the same time.