What explains the somewhat better relative performance of Muslims in recent years?

I had written elsewhere that “the Sachar Committee report, one of the most comprehensive and authoritative source of information on socio-economic status of Indian Muslims, offers some answers. The report says, “while the share of Muslim workers engaged in agriculture is much lower than for other groups, their participation in manufacturing and trade (especially for men) is much higher than for other SRCs (Socio Religious Categories). Besides, their participation in the construction work is also high." The report adds that besides construction, the participation of Muslim workers is quite high in retail and wholesale trade, land transport, automobile repair, manufacture of tobacco products, textiles and apparel and fabricated metal products.”

Incidentally, while agriculture has seen very modest growth in post-liberalisation years, manufacturing and services (trade in particular) have grown at a faster clip.