The Obituary published by The Economist (Farewell to Incredible India on June 9th) on the state of Indian economy was indeed a poignant reminder of what the absence of a true national leader and presence of deep-rooted coalition politics could virtually do..!
Revered industry veterans such as Murthy, Premji and others have raised serious concerns and have held 'policy paralysis' at the Centre responsible for the current state of affairs.
President in-waiting and the current FM and our illustrious PM as well, both have not taken several cues from Moody, Fitch and domestic experts to show any gumption of taking hard decisions.
To be fair to them, one would say that they always had Mamta and Jaya to pull down any well-intended moves.
To be fair to them, one would say that they always had Mamta and Jaya to pull down any well-intended moves.
It has been the RBI tune, sung by the men in power in recent months.With significant political pressure on RBI to keep on cutting interest rates, Subbarao has given it back to the FM in equal measure by refusing to cut rates in June 2012; since no actions have been taken by the Govt on supply side issues and to improve the fiscal situation. Quite a bold and correct measure by the Gov., one would have to say !
Simply put, these are the ten hard decisions / reforms which the Congress govt. needs to go after in order to revive the economy, bring it to speed and more importantly for them (Congress) to save face and remain in power post 2014:
1. Allow 51% FDI in Multi-brand retail
2. Exit Air-India immediately and liberalize the Aviation sector !
3. Promulgate a resolution to ensure Coal is made available to all existing power plants as per allocations and beyond if required
4. Bring Sea-ports, rail / road connectivity projects and capital investment projects under high-priority and hence a single window clearance.
5. Introduce GST in the country with immediate effect. States opposing the same need to be shown a suitable carrot !!
6. Do not send wrong messages to the foreign investors by changing tax laws retrospectively. Remain investor friendly !
7. Fuel pricing: Reduce subsidies on Diesel with a clear time frame in mind and make petrol pricing truly free !
8. Review food subsidy and resurrect the PDS
9. Do not mess with the already messed up Education system of India
10. Time to stop bailing out State after state..! UP, Bengal, Tamil Nadu !! Let the principle of Earn your bread be applicable to states as well !!!
This is more than a wish list, because it is a dream list and the dreams could just add on and on..!! But a die-hard optimistic and patriotic that most of us may be, we can only propose and continue to propose bright ideas. This is also because, it is difficult to see the dream of India as the third largest economy in possibly couple of decades, just melting before your very eyes because of dirty politics !
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