Why has India's growth slowed?

The slowdown in growth is primarily on account of the banking crisis

India’s economic growth is down to a crawl in recent years. The growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) had decelerated for three consecutive years starting in 2016-17, falling to 4 per cent in 2019-20, well before the pandemic struck. 

What explains the slowdown? Critics lay the blame on major policy lapses on the part of the Narendra Modi government: Demonetisation, goods and services tax and the absence of major economic reforms in the first term of the government. Their contention does not hold water.

Most experts thought demonetisation would deal a body blow to the economy because it meant