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Vijay Joshi, an Indian economist based at
Oxford University, argues in his latest book,
India’s Long Road:The Search for Prosperity
, that far
deeper reforms are needed.
8
‘In the domestic
arena, progress remains to be made in many
areas such as public-sector ownership, banking
reforms, rules governing bankruptcy and exit,
infrastructure provision, employment creation
and delivery of public services,’ he writes. ‘These
involve substantive matters in which “reform by
Even so, India is now well into a new phase of
its existence.Already the largest democracy by
population, the country is set to overtake China as
the world’s most populous nation by about 2024,
according to forecasts by the UN.
3
As the country
in the G20 with the poorest populace, poorer than
China’s, there is huge potential for catch-up growth.
Among recent reforms are a long-awaited
overhaul of India’s bankruptcy law and the
introduction of a national goods and sales tax to
replace a tangle of state levies,
4
the latter move
hailed by the OECD as a ‘landmark’ that would
‘lift all boats’.
5
Foreign investment has increased,
albeit from a low base,
6
and work continues on
the ambitious International North-South
Transport Corridor, India’s answer to China’s
Belt and Road Initiative.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has begun to use a
state-of-the-art biometric ID card system,
known as Aadhaar, to map Indians financially,
including their bank accounts and expenditures.
With more than 1.1 billion enrolled members
already, it has been described by theWorld Bank
as the world’s most sophisticated ID programme
and an example for other countries to follow.
7
Despite these positives, Modi has yet to win
over many doubters.Those who hoped that he
would be a free-market champion, sweeping
away bureaucracy and restrictions on labour, land
and capital, have been disappointed.
GROWTH AGENDA
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
(above); the
International North-
South Transport
Corridor (below)
18
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THE INVESTOR
Sources: 1 oecd.org, February 2017; 2 bloomberg.com, March 2017; 3 United Nations Department of Economic and SocialAffairs,
World Population Prospects:The 2017 Revision, June 2017
; 4 cnbc.com, July 2017; 5 oecd.org, February 2017; 6 United Nations Conference onTrade and
Development,
World Investment Report 2017
,
Country fact sheet: India
, June 2017; 7 qz.com, March 2017; 8 global.oup.com,April 2017; 9 research-doc.credit-suisse.com, July 2013; 10 in.reuters.com,August 2017; 11 indiaonlinepages.com,August 2017; 12 bbc.co.uk, May 2005