How practicable an economic philosophy was Gandhian economics? Rob Staley offers his views:

The tagline that stuck was this: “Production by the masses instead of mass production.” This roughly summarized his opinion on the direction in which India’s young budding economy should take as they pulled away from the British in the 40s. The idea was that industrialization-led machines dehumanized many Indian sectors–not just in the typical ways of fiercer competition commonly derided by anti-capitalist banter, but also by literally taking humans out of the production process all together. He didn’t want machines to come in and spin threads when it could just as easily be done by everyday people in their spare time with their own hands. He understood then, as is the case now, that India’s greatest asset and most significant problem would always be how to empower its burgeoning population economically and socially.