account. After independence the Indian government introduced restrictions on the flow of foreign exchange reserves, and following a balance of payments crisis from 1956-1957, the government became more concerned with carefully allocating foreign exchange between different sectors of the economy. After a failed attempt at liberalization in 1966, the Foreign Investments Board was established in 1968 to scrutinize companies investing in India with more than 40% foreign equity participation. Foreign investment that did not involve technology transfers was severely restricted, and foreign collaboration with local companies was conditioned on export quotas. This tight control over foreign investment became a core part of a broader policy of import substitution industrialisation, the belief that countries like India needed to rely on internal markets for development, not international trade. To achieve this goal, the Indian government erected strict import restrictions and a complex system of tariffs that featured high rates which varied by industry. One consequence of the License Raj was that it benefited large corporations at the expense of smaller businesses. Because large corporations were often better able to navigate the complex bureaucracy of the License Raj and secure the necessary licenses, they were able to dominate many sectors of the economy. This made it difficult for small businesses to compete, and contributed to a concentration of economic power in the hands of a few large corporations. Another criticism of the licensing system in India was that it was prone to corruption, as businesses and individuals had to navigate a complex bureaucracy in order to obtain licenses and permissions, and may have had to pay bribes or engage in other forms of corruption in order to obtain the necessary approvals.This corruption was fueled by a broader environment of corruption in India, which was characterized by a lack of transparency and accountability in the government, a weak legal system, and a culture of corruption that had been allowed to persist for many years. Fall of the License Raj The Licence Raj system was in place for four decades. Many members of the Congress party, including Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, were strong supporters of liberalization and played key roles in implementing these changes. In 1991, Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, who was also the Minister of Industries, initiated a policy of liberalization in India. This policy aimed to reduce government intervention in the economy and promote market-based