South Asia consists of a few states of very disparate size and complexity. It ranges from the vast economy of India, with a population of more than 1.2 billion, which ranks top in the world in terms of population and third in industrial development, to the tiny Maldives, with a population of only about 300,000 and an economy primarily based on fishing and tourism. The South Asian region bears the dubious distinction of being home to more than 400 million (20 per cent) of the world’s poorest people. It also accounts for approximately less than 50 per cent of the world’s malnourished children. The global mission and vision to reduce poverty in the developing world will be substantially enhanced if one can successfully engender rapid and sustained growth in the South Asia region. This volume (third edition) focuses on the four populous economies of South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This is partly due to pragmatic reasons (i.e. constraints of time and resources and ready availability of information and analyses) and partly due to the need for finding regional generalizations that can in turn be linked to the key issues in the broad domain of development studies. The smaller economies of the region represent distinct policy challenges and particular circumstances that cannot be easily accommodated to the goals set in this study. Moreover, the third edition of South Asian Economic Development by Routledge launched after the once-a-century pandemic called COVID-19 affected both economically and health-wise all nations of the globe. Certainly, under this circumstance, the study has faced many challenges over time to analyse the four nations of South Asia, including managing resources and tough time management.