The unpleasant current Indian economic reality is that short of the government stuffing the pockets of yesterday’s high-spending consumers of big ticket items and bribing the now-shy importers of Indian goods and services to continue their purchases, the growth in 2009-10 will flounder around 5 per cent. Therefore, there are no bullets, silver or otherwise, left for the government to fire.
This leads to an interesting area of speculation. Our astute economist prime minister and his man for all seasons, who presented the Interim Budget, are all too aware of this. They, however, did not follow the admirable path of President Obama, who told the truth about the economic crisis as plainly as he saw it, in Arizona. He sternly advised Americans to mend their profligate ways. Our leaders took the seemingly high moral road of leaving the stimulus to the next government. This was more out of a fear that any such measures announced now would not work, as similar plans have not elsewhere in the world, and come to haunt them in the forthcoming campaign, rather than a concern for propriety. Given the state of denial of the present crisis that prevails in the entire country, not just the government, who knows, this ploy might even pay (Interim) dividends!
Shreekant Sambrani, via email
