The narrative is turning for the better in India on economy and elsewhere

Sometimes, you can almost see the narrative turning. Close on the heels of India vaulting into the top 100 on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings comes news that global credit rating agency Moody's has upgraded India's sovereign rating. Both these are thumping global approvals for the Narendra Modi government and its handling of the economy. It was Modi's bold political instinct that led to the launch of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) within eight months of each other, both decisions fraught with risk and together representing a massive political gamble. Simultaneously, he has embarked on uncharted waters in the realm of foreign policy, but we will return to this in a bit. The last quarter - which brought in its wake several pieces of disappointing economic news, including that of a fall in the GDP growth rate to a three-year low of 5.7 per cent - was probably the worst, at least from the perspective of media commentaries, in Modi's three-and-a-half-year rule.