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Business
India’s 80‑Year Economic Shift: From Agriculture to Services
✍️ Business Standard
🗓 16 Aug 2026, 05:03 AM
👁 5
A Business Standard feature traces how India’s economy evolved over eight decades, moving from an agrarian base to a service‑dominated structure.
The Business Standard’s latest feature outlines the dramatic transformation of India’s economy over the past 80 years.
In the decades following independence, agriculture was the primary source of employment and output, with most of the population engaged in farming.
Gradually, industrial growth and urbanization shifted the focus toward manufacturing and later, to the services sector, which now accounts for a majority of the country’s GDP.
The article highlights how this diversification has broadened employment opportunities, increased productivity and positioned India as a major player in the global service market.
In the decades following independence, agriculture was the primary source of employment and output, with most of the population engaged in farming.
Gradually, industrial growth and urbanization shifted the focus toward manufacturing and later, to the services sector, which now accounts for a majority of the country’s GDP.
The article highlights how this diversification has broadened employment opportunities, increased productivity and positioned India as a major player in the global service market.