Indian prime minister indicates that development and privatisation should no longer be seen as ugly words by those who harbour alternative agendas.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi held up a mirror to the country’s lawmakers during his speech in the Lok Sabha last week and they were forced to take a long hard look at the truth when he extolled the functions of the nation’s private sector, the approach of private enterprise and wealth creators in kick-starting the country’s economic momentum.
The name of the game is reforms, reforms and more reforms. It is an expression which many administrations prior to Modi’s government have uttered, and some even enacted, albeit furtively while championing the concept of populism. The prime minister’s affinity to run a government which is pro-business is no secret but he has now come out and indicated that development and privatisation should no longer be seen as ugly words by those who harbour alternative agendas. Truth be told, no other administration has scripted as many improvements as the current one and this is a demonstrated fact. But it all comes about by administering with conviction.
A snap check of the developments carried out by the Modi administration shows the setting up of a Monetary Policy Committee to focus on checking inflation, initiating the Goods & Services Tax, facilitating contract labour across industries, addressing subsidies and triggering the bankruptcy law. Foreign investors have been welcomed with open arms, the RERA laws have been scrutinized to address the maladies of the real estate sector, business processes have been streamlined, the private sector has been invited to be a part of the nation’s road-building programme, corporate tax- rates have been reduced, the private sector has been made an ally in social initiatives like affordable housing and health insurance policies and the farm laws were revisited in favour of the farmer’s well-being.
The government barely paused to breathe before pushing through more measures in its annual 2021-2022 Union budget which zoned in on disposing off public enterprises like airports, ports, pipelines, land, roads in a mammoth shift towards privatization.
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While the role of the smaller business cannot be overlooked it is a fairly established fact that ‘big corporate’ will have a significant role to play if India asserts itself as a global economic powerhouse and triggers growth. The simple formula to that approach is wealth creation and it cannot be looked upon with pessimism and mistrust by those with alternative agendas.
While the role of the smaller business cannot be overlooked it is a fairly established fact that ‘big corporate’ will have a significant role to play if India asserts itself as a global economic powerhouse and triggers growth. The simple formula to that approach is wealth creation.
Indian capitalism is forging ahead with a singleminded approach towards enhancing prosperity and economic well-being. Those who subscribed to the view that socialism was the answer to India’s needs have now seen first-hand how the citizens have embraced reforms. It does not make a difference whether money is generated by public enterprises or private entities as long as everyone has an access to and a share of the pie.
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What Modi is calling for is the removal of cynicism towards private business houses and rightly so. People view certain businesses as having monopolies in specific sectors but the administration is constantly working towards widening the playing field so that there is always room for more. There is a certain reassurance in this. As long as there is growth and impartiality there will be less resistance towards reforms. Modi has laid this out on the floor of the people’s house in parliament – there can be no political ownership of capitalism if India is to keep moving ahead.
Change always comes with a price tag, but the benefits of it can be long-lasting.