RS 7.5 LAKH CRORE NEEDS TO BE SPENT

There has been much discussion on the additional funds required to ensure that the Indian economy bounces back to a high growth track after the Covid-19 scare disappears, as it hopefully will within weeks. Even Rs 500,000 crore may be insufficient for such an outcome. The extra spend may need to reach Rs 750,000 crore, shared between the RBI and the Finance Ministry. At the same time, to avoid increased inflation, regulatory bottlenecks to growth in all service, manufacturing and other jobcreating sectors need to be dismantled so that India ceases to be regarded as a graveyard of private enterprise and innovation. Venture capitalists usually fund Indian unicorns on condition that they subsequently incorporate outside. India has 34 unicorns, but 18 of them are incorporated outside, and more will follow unless the present governance mechanism understands that Indian talent can access multiple countries to locate in, and that Make in India will undershoot potential unless the ecosystem in India is as conducive to innovation and genuine (as distinct from crony) entrepreneurship as is found in the US and the UK. Given a regulatory expressway rather than what can only get described as dirt tracks, India can emerge as the manufacturing hub of the globe, displacing China. The country can become a centre of gravity for innovation, just as the US and now increasingly China (the two other superpowers of the 21st century) are. Many years ago, a youthful chaiwalla from a humble background dreamt of leading India into prosperity. After nearly four decades of rigorous “On the Job” training for this task, Narendra Modi’s first government job was to become in 2001 the CM of Gujarat. The second such job is what he has been holding since 26 May 2014. The time has come for the India Dream to begin the takeoff into actuality under PM Modi’s leadership.