Govt lost sight of the ball |
It’s just all accumulating together. We have frayed relations with the US over tariffs, we are on the wrong side of the AI mania, we are a big energy importer during an Iran conflict, and we have El Niño to deal with. The government needs to think as passionately about getting foreign capital back — perhaps through tax cuts — as they do about elections. Private investment is stagnant because the ground-level business environment remains difficult due to regulation and investigative agencies. India consistently disappoints both the optimist and the pessimist. We still have the second or third most expensive stock market in the world, which is a note of caution.” (The Indian Express, May 12, 2026).
I did not say those words, so the trolls may relax. It was a statement by Mr Ruchir Sharma (author of The Rise and Fall of Nations, What Went Wrong with Capitalism, etc.). It is a virtual indictment of the BJP government’s management of the economy. But I admit to expressing views on the same lines — especially about the frayed relations with the US, getting foreign capital back, the unfriendly regulatory environment, the role of investigative agencies, and so on. These issues were hidden from the public’s information and were cleverly side-tracked during........