From “India Shining” campaign of 2004 to “India Poised” campaign of 2007 what has changed is the real face of India’s growth. Now it’s no more just in ink. GDP is growing at about 9%, Q3FY07 results of 340 companies so far show a growth of 35.52% in sales and 70.28% in net profit, FDI is expected to overtake FII in this fiscal and to top it all Sensex has grown by 250% since May 2004. We all are blessed to live in this period. Now it’s the time we contribute to the growth of India to bring back its status of Sone ki Chidiyaan.
The problem areas which can hamper the future growth are lack of infrastructure and education. Government is opening up investments in reality sector which is coupled with domestic investment. SEZ’s have been sanctioned and part of Forex reserves ($177Bn) is planned to fund infrastructure projects. So there is good amount of work being done to meet the funding requirement of $300Bn by 2010 for infrastructure projects. However what is totally lacking is the growth in public education and therefore the employability of the Indian youth. Growth of India can not be considered total inclusive as of now however it is little early to pass a judgment.
I see a lot being written in media doubting the growth and its sustainability. In my opinion what India needs a change is in the commitment level for the growth from leaders (politicians) and Indian citizens. Now that India is really growing, we need believers in this growth. It’ll be worst if we sit on the sideline looking skeptically at rising India. We all need to believe in this growth which is going to be there for long run and participate in it. It’s the turn of economy, it’s the point of inflection and it’s the period when India is all set to get its due. Let’s be game!
As we have seen it makes not much of a difference if congress or BJP is at the center. BJP’s policy of privatization/disinvestment was good but hasty; congress (read left’s) policy of slow privatization/disinvestment is cautious but enduring. So in all we need a commitment from our leaders for the long term growth. A case in point is the turn around of Indian railways. I don’t give whole credit to Mr. Lalu P Yadav but he deserves a massive portion of it just for his conviction to change. We have great Indian bureaucrats who can turn around any ailing system but they don’t have a pushing force. Mr Lalu acted as a catalyst when he shook up whole system asking for change. It’s precisely what we want.
To increase the commitment level of our ministers I urge PM to come up with specific performance targets for each ministry and make it public. Detailed planning should be left to head govt. employees in the ministry but the responsibility should totally be aligned to minister of the department.
To improve the commitment level of Indian citizens to growth we need a clear communication from leaders in media about the change. It’s high time that policies meet the ground realities. Whole system has to be made target driven with responsibilities assigned to the implementers. Moral and confidence of people need a push when our India goes on to take over biggies of the world.
Salute!
