2017: A year of troublesome twins

These are likely to continue to be challenges for the economy in the coming year

Over the past year, two pairs of twins have dominated economic developments in India. The first refers to the “twin shocks” of demonetisation (Demon for short) of November 2016 and the implementation challenges of the new goods and services tax (GST) from July 2017. The second refers to the legacy problems of the long-festering “twin balance sheet” burden of massive non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks, especially public sector banks (PSBs), and the corresponding overhang of unserviced debt of the Indian corporate sector, both of which have been throttling investment and production in the Indian economy. As the calendar year comes