Do it yourself

Since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been consistently exhorting the foreign investors to invest in India to take advantage of 3Ds - Democracy, Demography and Demand; a unique strength not possessed by any other major economy of the world. After 5years of NDA rule under his leadership, many are now challenging this claim. A large section of domestic and foreign media, and many senior political observers & commentators have raised questions over the present health of the democracy in India. We may heavily discount their stance as deeply prejudicial and driven by ulterior motives, but rejecting it outright may not be totally logical. The Union Labor Minister himself recently raised question over the quality of human resources in the country, especially the northern states where about two third of the youth population lives. Most business leaders, both from manufacturing and service industries, have frequently expressed grave concerns about the employab...

Conventionally, automobile industry performance is widely accepted as a lead indicator of the overall economic performance of any economy. No wonders if the recent slowdown in automobile demand is being represented as a mark of the slowdown in overall economic activity. However, the reactions from policy makers - ministers, MPs, senior advisers & bureaucrats, etc - are perplexing. They have mostly sought to trivialize the issue of slowdown either by outright rejection or some lame explanation. The suggestion of the finance minister that use of app based taxis may be a key reason for slowdown in demand of automobile has been criticized widely on social media as a completely illogical. These unmindful assertions from the official side have raised doubts over the policy makers' understanding of the current state of Indian economy. These doubts may impact the already faltering business and consumer sentiments. In this context it is important to note that— ...