According to an OECD publication, in 1700 AD, broadly defined, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) at US $ 90.8 billion was 24.4 per cent of world GDP (Maddison Angus, “The World Economy: A Millennium Perspective”, OECD, 2001). Lord Meghnad Desai, while delivering the first P.R.
Brahmananda Memorial Lecture in Mumbai in September 2004, noted that the story of the 19th century for India is not one of gloom and doom.