Nandan Nilekani: Positive, but could have been bolder

BUDGET OPINION

Macro economic indicators such as the GDP growth rate estimated at 6.9 per cent and inflation at 5.0 per cent provided a favourable setting to the finance minister to target poverty and unemployment. The Budget has increased investments and will hopefully address these issues. The focus on agriculture, the social sector, and infrastructure will ensure a consolidation of the growth momentum.

Increasing per capita income requires massive investment in agriculture, given that this sector engages two-thirds of the country's population, while the contribution to GDP is a disproportionate 21 per cent. I welcome the Bharat Nirman programmes to bring additional land under assured irrigation, connecting all villages with roads, construction of additional houses for the poor, provision of drinking water for the uncovered habitation and provision of electricity.

Farmers today are not free to sell their produce at the market of their choice and I therefore particularly welcome the new scheme for development and strengthening agricultural marketing infrastructure, grading and standardisation to be introduced to encourage large investments from the private and cooperative sectors for setting up agricultural markets, marketing infrastructure and support services. We need to hasten the process of creating a national market and focus more on training farmers.

I welcome the intention of the government in converting the National Food for Work programme into the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme aimed at providing livelihood to crores of people below the poverty line. The focus on strengthening primary health care through grassroots level public health interventions based on community ownership is welcome.

The increase in spending on infrastructure is welcome. I suggest the government disinvest in mature infrastructure projects to release resources for new projects. The government needs to be a venture capitalist for a greater impact. Our cities generate wealth but are degenerating because of lack of investment and reform. The National Urban Renewal Mission is overdue and greater investment here will hopefully lead to urban re-generation and improvement in the quality of life. The National Urban Renewal Mission needs to be accompanied by basic urban governance reforms that improve financial accountability, define disclosure norms for cities, mandate citizen participation and streamline urban local bodies and para-statals.

The finance minister's statement on the recognition of the leading role being played by the private sector in services and the provision of a supportive policy environment and stable tax policies is heartening and is conducive to attracting investments. As the finance minister rightly noted, the food-processing industry, textiles, construction, pharmaceuticals, bio-technology and information technology industries have immense employment generation potential, and stable and supportive policies are the need of the hour to encourage these sectors and overcome jobless growth. I am happy to note that a new legislation is planned to provide a supportive environment to the small and medium enterprises.

The reduction of the peak rate of customs duty to 15 per cent and the reduction in customs duty rates on capital goods and raw materials will make industry more competitive, globally especially the textiles sector. I am delighted that the governance aspect in the Budget has finally been given prominence. The mechanisms to put in place to measure the development outcomes of all major programmes and the steps to ensure that schemes are not allowed to continue without an independent and in-depth evaluation need to be welcomed wholeheartedly as also the emphasis on enhancing the efficiency and accountability of delivery mechanisms.

The need of the hour is to take giant strides and the finance minister could have been bolder in taking such steps. India needs to have bigger dreams to become an economic superpower and for this we need to make massive investment today in the social sector and infrastructure.

(The author is MD &CEO, Infosys)