The Modi government has done a good job this past year. They have focused on clearing the bottlenecks that have inhibited investments and cleaned the choked pipeline. Environmental matters have been settled without a tax, as done earlier. Projects that required approval from the government have more or less come through. FDI in Insurance and Defence has been raised. The Railways and road sectors have got a larger budget and many road orders are being released, much higher than before. Huge funding has come in for infrastructure. Defence and the Made in India initiative are going pretty well, too. Overall, we are seeing that issues which dogged the industrial sector for a long time have been cleared.
One more plus for the government is that increased transparency has been brought into contentious issues. In the power, coal and telecom sectors, auctions have been held for contracts. As far as power is concerned, many decisions have been taken regarding coal linkages, transmission links and transport links. There has also been a huge programme exploring alternate energy sources and to increase solar energy.
Above all this, however, is that for the first time in many years, there is no talk of corruption in New Delhi, both in political circles and in the bureaucracy. The Prime Minister’s promise on ending corruption has been kept.
This is truly transformative as it has been a long time since we have seen a corrupt less regime in the capital. Crony capitalists who ran riot in Delhi are now complaining about lack of access and goodies. The government is bent upon clear-cut policies with less access. Of course, many parts of the industrial sector are complaining about this decrease in communication and that is due to the government wish to be more transparent and policy led, instead of handling individual cases.
Overseas, the world has more respect for India because they believe now that the nation has a PM who means business. He has been on many foreign visits this past year and has had a certain ‘wow’ factor going in his favour. Global leaders seem inclined to have greater confidence in India and are willing to do more business. However, it must be said that although huge investments have been announced, there is not much happening on the ground.
While transparency is always welcome, there is no policy that governs communication with stakeholders in India. The UPA had a Trade and Investment committee comprising senior industrialists and there was regular interaction. This mechanism helped to improve communication between businesses and the government and must be restored. Since normal access to political leaders has been reduced, a formal mechanism needs to be put into place now, so that the government is seen as listening to industry needs.
In the new year, there needs to be greater focus on eliminating tax terrorism, improving communication with the industry, getting actual investment on the ground, reducing the inefficiencies in the supply chain and enhancing investment and policy in the social sector. The easy work of taking policy decisions is now over and the harder task of getting improvements on the ground must be addressed in the current year.
(The writer is Chairman, Manipal Global Education and former CFO, Infosys)
