Q.Explain the various types of economic planning.

Planning is classified in several distinct ways, depending on whether one looks at how binding it is, what it measures, or who does the planning.

Explain each pair/type with its defining feature and a real example where relevant.

Economic planning is classified along several distinct dimensions:

A. By how binding the plan is:

• Imperative (Directive) Planning — targets are compulsory and binding on every producing unit, characteristic of centrally-planned (socialist/command) economies.
• Indicative Planning — targets are broad guidelines, with actual production and investment decisions left mainly to private enterprise and market forces; suited to a mixed economy such as India's, which moved substantially in this direction after the 1991 reforms.

B. By the unit in which targets are expressed:

• Financial Planning — targets and allocations expressed in monetary terms (budgetary outlay).
• Physical Planning — targets expressed in real, physical terms (tonnes of steel, kilometres of road, megawatts of power); a plan document typically uses both together.

C. By the level of authority doing the planning:

• Centralised Planning — a single central authority plans for the whole country top-down; characteristic of most of India's Five-Year Plan history.
• Decentralised Planning — planning at state, district, and local levels, built up from the grassroots, strengthened in India after the 73rd/74th Constitutional Amendments (1992) gave District Planning Committees a formal role.

D. By how the time period is handled:

• Rolling Plan — reviewed and revised every year, with a new plan announced annually for the following few years, so a current plan is always in force; India used this format from 1978 to 1980, before reverting to fixed Five-Year Plans.