The process of economic liberalisation in India began in 1991 when India defaulted on her loans and asked for a $1.8 billion bailout from the IMF. This was a trickle-down effect of the culmination of the cold war era; marked by the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, India's main trading partner. The bailout was done on the condition that the government initiate further reforms, thus paving the way for India's emergence as a free market economy, which would open up its markets to western companies.