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from Expert Zone:
Budget 2013: A chance to leave ‘policy paralysis’ behind
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author, and not those of Reuters)
In India, the government continues to both talk a good game and walk a decent game, having apparently learnt its lesson after a prolonged period of policy paralysis, before gaining a fresh lease of life with last summer's economic reforms.
This year also, the government of Manmohan Singh has been unusually active ahead of the budget, scheduled for Feb. 28. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has just completed a global road show.
In meetings with foreign leaders and institutional investors, Chidambaram spread the gospel that his government is serious about restraining the budget deficit and getting back on track with India's planned fiscal consolidation. To attack the fiscal deficit, diesel subsidies are being curtailed and passenger ticket prices for trains are being increased.
Chidambaram's road show may have raised expectations in the investment community with regard to what this year's budget will contain. The majority of foreign fund managers, however, unlike local residents, normally have fairly low expectations of, and limited interest in, India's annual budget exercise. With its perennial disappointments in budgetary control, poor implementation record and frequent bias towards populist measures, the Indian budget normally plays very little part in the strategic decisions of foreign fund managers to increase their exposure in India.
from India Insight:
Narendra Modi follows his roadmap to Delhi
The Narendra Modi charm offensive showed up in full force in India's capital on Wednesday. Modi, the main opposition party's likely prime ministerial candidate gave a speech on progress and development at one of Delhi's premier colleges, the youthful audience greeted the 62-year-old politician with gusto, news outlets called his speech a "roadmap for India," protesters showed up en masse and Twitter went bananas.
If not a direct declaration of grand political ambition, the nearly one-hour speech at the Shri Ram College of Commerce sounded like a pitch for a national role: here was the chief minister of Gujarat talking about development to more than a thousand students in New Delhi, staying away from the usual and divisive political overtones, repeatedly referring to the youth of the country (future voters), and outlining his vision for India.
from India Insight:
Window closing on Prime Minister Singh’s planned visit to Pakistan
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Thomson Reuters)
It is eerily quiet on the fenced border between India and Pakistan in the southern plains of Jammu and Kashmir. Farmers are planting paddy, you can hear the sound of traffic in the distance from both sides of the border, and sometimes the squeals of children. Overhead in high watchtowers that can be seen from a mile, soldiers peer through binoculars at the enemy across while in the rear just behind the electrified fence with its array of Israeli-supplied sensors, soldiers are strung out in a line of bunkers. It's a cold peace on one of the world's most militarised frontiers.
from India Insight:
A user’s guide to India’s cabinet reshuffle
(Opinions expressed here are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Thomson Reuters.)
In what is most likely the last cabinet reshuffle for the UPA-II government before the 2014 general elections, 22 ministers were sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Sunday.
from India Insight:
Rahul Gandhi can change Congress’ image with cabinet entry
India is asking the same old question after news reports said Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday before a possible cabinet reshuffle later this month: will Gandhi be one of the cards in his deck?
Gandhi’s entry into the government would be the only opportunity for him to prove that he has what it takes to one day rule India. He’s seen as the prime-minister-in-waiting, and a cabinet post would better equip him to deal with the hurly-burly of Indian politics.
from India Insight:
Mamata Banerjee: I’ve got Friday on my mind
Mamata Banerjee's threat that her ministers would quit on Friday unless the Indian government scrapped its plan to save the economy was her way of giving the government time to consider its options.
I told my colleague Aditya that in reality, it was probably a chance for her to reconsider her move because there was no way that the government would bend to her desires.
from Expert Zone:
That’s the spirit, Mr Prime Minister
(Rajan Ghotgalkar is Managing Director of Principal Pnb Asset Management Company. The views expressed in this column are his own and do not represent those of either Principal Pnb or Reuters)
Manmohan Singh's "if we have to go down, let's go down fighting" comment is exactly the spirit which needs to be demonstrated by those in power. After all, desperate times call for desperate measures.
from India Insight:
Political crisis in India: Mamata Banerjee moves out, UPA should move forward
It wasn't unexpected. After more than three long years of association with the UPA II coalition government, key ally Mamata Banerjee is taking her name off the lease, packing up her things and getting ready to move out. Whether she has taken Congress' chances for holding power in India with her depends on how strong -- and willing -- the party's other friends are.
This move, precipitated by her anger at urgent government moves to fix India's economy, is a case of better late than never. There is no point being part of a coalition if you don't like how it works or the decisions that it makes.
from India Insight:
You can’t talk about Manmohan Singh that way!
Is it a compliment when the government of one of the largest countries in the world demands that you apologise for something you wrote? Ask Simon Denyer, India bureau chief of The Washington Post and a former Reuters editor based in Washington D.C. and India.
Denyer in a Post article called India's prime minister Manmohan Singh a "dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government”. Denyer also said that the 79-year-old Singh has fallen from grace, and that he no longer fits the image of being a "scrupulously honorable, humble and intellectual technocrat".
from India Insight:
Congress strikes two birds with one stone
Why so much euphoria over the presidential polls? Shouldn’t the government concentrate on the economy; it’s a ceremonial post after all, we thought.
However, the way the election process panned out might be the boost the Congress party needed ahead of the 2014 general elections, not only politically, but even for the economy.
