Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Why Modi thinks beyond Gujarat polls, routine administration ?


(The centre has got busy with Budget 2023-24 - that will be the last full-fledged Budget before 2024 polls. Startup India and Stand Up India have boosted entrepreneurship. The Modi Govt is eyeing abundant job creation at the grassroots level)


New Delhi 

Politicians in democracy often break hearts. But common people most often tend to draw hopes from political masters. Amid challenges and as food inflation and agonies would often refuse to be tamed, there are some in the Neta class who will continue to create excitement. 






They will help you build monuments of pride and national honour.

Narendra Modi is one such star on the horizon. He is also a protagonist who often refuses to play by any known rules yet there is a discipline in what he does to defeat chaos and confusion.


Right now political focus in government apparatus is the elections in Gujarat. But maybe the Prime Minister of India - also a Gujarati politician - is working on something else.


He spent busy schedules in Bali in Indonesia interacting and shaking hands with global leaders, sharing

mutual concerns about climate change and Russia-Ukraine conflict. In governance sense in the corridors

of power in Delhi, he has other issues to attend to.


The ensuing Winter session of Parliament and of course much importantly the Budget 2023-24. This will be the last Budget which will have a few welfare schemes and also a possible one or two reforms tinkering to augment funds and foreign investment. The bugle for 2024 general elections will be blown by next six months

and Modi and his party will also have to bother about elections in central India -- the 'country's heart' Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and also Rajasthan in the west in 2023 itself.


The global situations offer more than the customary challenges. There are multiple crises before the United Kingdom.

Things are not good either for the US, China and Europe. The impact left by Russian defence policies and war on the oil front is global.


Both the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have their jobs cut out.


Their biggest challenge, according to industry experts, is to identify and minimise non-priority spending to meet 

the 2022-23 (FY23) fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of gross domestic product.


"We have not strayed away from the fiscal glide path. We remain committed to the fiscal glide path given in the Budget," FM Ms Sitharaman said in October in Washington, DC. Around October 10th her ministry had started the normal pre-Budget consultations.

The Budget 2023-24 will be the last full steam Budget for Modi 2.0 and hence the Prime Minister has rightly placed his focus areas as well.


There are some figures in the media and other fora about 'surge' in the unemployment rates.

FM counters this and says, "Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) enrolments have doubled in the last quarter, indicating that employment has doubled".


Of course there is a lot of reshaping and recasting happening in the Indian economy. Sitharaman says even the nature of employment is being speedily ramped up.


The Narendra Modi-led government has emphasised the formalisation of jobs. The EPFO data is cited to show an increase in formal jobs.

Objective analysis suggests things are 'improving' in terms of domestic investments as well and Indian corporate players who coughed up a considerable amount in the UK would now look towards India again.

Vedantas and Mittals are getting active in India and so do other players including in the Pharma sector and of course automobile front too.

The auto market is expected to experience elevated demand for commercial vehicles from the flourishing logistics and the passenger transport sector. Government initiatives and policies are prominent factors influencing market growth and are expected to upkeep the growth over the coming years, says a Grand View Research report.



According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), India is ranked fourth in the top 10  global car-producing countries. 

It is argued that India's automotive sector is powered by the rising population, increasing disposable income, and ease of availability of credit and financing. 

The Indian pharma industry is expected to grow to $130 billion by 2030 and become the leading provider of medicines. It is also stated that behind India's pharma success story is the world class manufacturing excellence, robust 
infrastructure, cost-competitiveness and trained human capital. 





Another highlight is India the largest provider of generic drugs globally. The pharmaceutical-sector industry 

supplies over 50 per cent of global demand for various vaccines, 40 percent of generic demand in the US 

and 25 percent of all medicine in the UK. 


On Nov 17, Finance Minister Ms Sitharaman asked the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited 

(NIIFL) to continuously engage investors.


Opportunities ought to be explored under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, PM GatiShakti and the 

National Infrastructure Corridor, which will also include a big pool of investible greenfield and brownfield 

projects.


The NIIF is now an internationally credible and commercially viable investment platform.


The NIIF’s first bilateral fund – an “India Japan Fund” with a contribution from the Government of India 

has been proposed with cooperation from the Japan Bank for International Development (JBIC).


Capital Gains


The central government has already received suggestions and proposals from the industry to simplify the capital gains tax structure to be carried out in the Budget for 2023/24.

Now, look on the other side, housing sales touched all-time lows in China. 
At least 70 percent of China's GDP relies on the real estate sector and when developers lost the ability to give home buyers their properties, it led to buyers losing confidence.


China's real estate has come down crashing.

Now, Beijing has announced a 16-page playbook to finance the ailing sector.
Robust Tech-Govt cooperation: Prime Minister Modi and his government has rightly laid emphasis on technology.


The government has termed the current decade (2020s) as the “techade” -- a decade of technology. 


Thus, Accessible India Campaign and Mobile App, BHIM (Bharat Interface For Money), Agrimarket App, and DigiLocker under the Digital India mission are showing
results.


This has enabled people to maximize their access to emerging digital tools and technologies in the country.

Most global companies have also expanded their business to India to leverage the country’s soaring tech talent.

Global investment is being targeted for transforming India into a global manufacturing hub.


Startup India and Stand Up India have boosted entrepreneurship. These demonstrate how the government is 

striving to create a tech-driven economy. There is little realisation that results are already visible.

We have abundant job creation at the grassroots level, including financial assistance and technical training.


ends  


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