The system of economic planning in the country began four decades ago with a bright vision of modern India moving firmly on the path of progress while ensuring equitable distribution of the nation's wealth. The inevitable compromises made to bridge the gap between the vision and reality led the country towards deficit financing. The mounting burden of borrowing both domestic and foreign brought the economy to the brink of insolvency in early 1991. The Industrial Policy of the 1970s and 1980s brought about a major failure to the nation when there was little or no adjustment to the changing global situations and trends when the country slipped into technological obsolescence and thereby halting India's economic growth. During the mid-eighties efforts to modernize the economy was introduced but it was short-lived and was soon covered by bureaucratic red tape.