They have a very elaborate system of granting and refusing permission for doing practically anything, called the "license raj" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_Raj). The ultimate purpose of that system is to make sure that the designated winners win, and that the designated losers lose; as everybody happens to be born into their designated places.
If the situation accidentally starts working out differently, the "license raj" bureaucrats will keep changing the rules, until the social order desired, has been restored, and the designated winners are winning and the designated losers are losing again.
Nowadays they pretend that they are abolishing that system, but that is not true at all, because they cannot abolish its underlying motivation. As soon as too many designated losers start doing too well -- instead of starving as they are supposed to -- they will urgently reign in that kind of social disorder.
As a foreigner, you cannot expect to be anything else but a designated loser; even though you are probably still considered "touchable" :-)