For those who can’t access the AWSJ, Amit Varma has reporoduced his op-ed at IndiaUncut,:

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to visit Washington in
a few weeks, and editorialists and commentators have already started
writing about the emerging economic power of India. New Delhi’s
decision to start liberalizing its economy in 1991 is touted as a
seminal event in India’s history, the moment when it threw off the
shackles of Fabian socialism and embraced free markets. It is the stuff
of myth–and to a large extent, it is exactly that.
While part
of India has benefited from being opened up to foreign products and
influences, most of the country is still denied access to free markets
and all the advantages they bring. India opened its markets in 1991 not
because there was a political will to open the economy, but because of
a balance-of-payments crisis that left it with few options. The
liberalization was half-hearted and limited to a few sectors, and
nowhere near as broad as it needed to be.