<b>Ajay Shah:</b> The economy's pain points

There is no alternative to deeper reforms in order to kick-start investment

The dust is now settling from demonetisation and the Budget. It is time for a fresh sense of the points of pain in the economy. The defining issue is stagnant investment. Malfunctioning government, balance sheet difficulties and problems with profitability are holding back firms. The banks have balance sheet stress. The behaviour of enforcement agencies may snarl up the private sector. The quick fixes have failed; there is now no alternative to deeper reforms.

From early November, our minds were occupied by demonetisation and then the Budget. We can now take two steps back and look at the landscape.

The defining problem