A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in India, which will sell power to India.

Describes the efforts of Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to deregulate and open up the Indian economy in the early 1990s. Focuses on the difficulties he encountered, reflected in the poor showing of the ruling Congress Party in state elections in December 1994, and raises the questions: Why is economic change so difficult in India? What are the obstacles to Rao's reforms? What is the likelihood that he will succeed? Contains a brief history of India's economic, political, and social development since it achieved independence in 1947.