2019: The dark year for India’s economy 

India's economy lost its sheen this year as it stumbled through a deep slowdown and a credit crisis.

The country has gone from being hailed as a colossus-in-waiting to placing among the also-rans.

A major economy has rarely had such a humbling turn in fortunes. In the third quarter, the gross domestic product was 4.5 per cent, which was the all-time low of the year.

Consumer confidence has tumbled to the lowest level since 2014. The labour market, a vital indicator in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, is fragile. The jobless rate has climbed to a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent.

India was the world’s fastest-growing economy until 2014, But the smaller economies like the Philippines and Indonesia grew quicker than India.

Much of this comes down to the country's broken financial system. Indian banks struggle with a load of bad loans that are among the biggest in the world.

Many Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. defaulted last year, setting off a liquidity crisis.

The government failed to take control of the companies, people lost their lives as no effort was made by the government to contain the damage.

Alarmingly for the Reserve Bank of India, these clogs in the financial pipes mean five interest-rate cuts this year haven't packed much punch.

Despite early and aggressive action to lower rates, all the benefits of looser monetary policy aren’t flowing through to the real economy.

In difficult times, central bankers usually keep a firm and credible hand on the rudder. But the RBI has surprised investors most of the time this year.

An unusual 35 basis-point cut in August, rather than the quarter percentage point economists anticipated, looked frivolous rather than clever.

A reduction this month seemed like a sure thing until officials balked. That was a shocking mistake.

The government has been busy with a divisive agenda and to cover its failure on the economic front, unreliable statistics were released.

Repairing data during a slump is tough because even incremental progress will be overshadowed by unflattering year-ago comparisons.

Economists have raised concerns about the unprecedented economic slowdown in the country while the PM has turned mute over it.