Limits of Modinomics

One might say that all prime ministers have only a political understanding of economics. There is nothing wrong with that and that is how it should be

When Mr Narendra Modi became prime minister, he found a massive macroeconomic disaster left behind by the UPA, created by Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram. Everyone has forgotten just how precarious things were in the summer of 2014, especially Mr Chidambaram who mumbles away monotonously every Sunday. 

Mr Modi faced two economic problems which, despite his reluctance to engage with economics, he understood clearly. The first was inflation, which has serious political consequences; and the second was foreign exchange reserves, which the BJP has always thought of a being a substitute for testosterone. 

Inflation, though abating from the previous highs,