[...] political sovereignty was handed over to Indians in August 1947. However, the capability of the Indian government to implement domestic policies according to its own will and needs was heavily circumscribed [...] indirect Western rule was maintained [...]

Indirect control was enforced by a variety of levers which would be applied should the Indian government ever stray out of line. The most important of these levers was access to food. At independence, India was barely able to feed itself. Maintaining access to food imports was thus a high priority for the Indian government, particularly in times of drought. A bad monsoon would, therefore, necessitate a massive importation of food which, given India's financial constraints, could only be met on concessional terms. Invariably, the only country able to offer concessions on such a scale was the USA, leading to Indian dependency on US largesse. This situation famously ensured India's compliance with the US operations in Vietnam. More importantly, it meant that India would not be able to follow policies which went against US interests until it achieved food self-sufficiency.

The other key Western lever over the Indian government was Pakistan. Pakistan is considered by many scholars to be the creation of Western and, in particular, British political scheming and geopolitical strategising in light of decolonisation and the emerging Cold War. [...]

[...]

While Pakistan was primarily established as a base and bastion for the projection of Anglo-American power into the Middle East and South-East Asia, its proximity to India also served to inhibit the Indian government from pursuing policies which might be deemed negative in London and Washington.

Owing to these conditions, the Indian government's economic policies following independence were highly conservative, particularly with regard to how Western capital was treated. [...]