Economics · Industrial Policies and Reforms

Assess the following statements related to the Industrial Licensing and Competition Reforms in the wake of the New Industrial Policy (NIP) 1991: Statement I: The New Industrial Policy 1991 completely abolished the requirement of industrial licensing for all manufacturing activities, except for a mandatory list of eighteen strategic and environmental sectors (which was later reduced further). Statement II: The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969, was eventually repealed and replaced by the Competition Act, 2002, to shift the focus from controlling the size of firms to controlling their behavior in the market. Statement III: The privatization of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) was mandated for all non-strategic sectors to ensure the government retains ownership only of core sectors like Defence and Railways. Statement IV: The liberalization of industry allowed all firms, domestic and foreign, to choose their technology, production scale, and location freely (subject to certain environmental regulations), thereby improving resource allocation. Which of the statements given above are correct?