Defence Spending: More From Where?

India spends 2.35 per cent of GDP on defence. This includes defence pensions; and pensions must be included because it is after all an integral part of defence expenditure. This is also the norm internationally. Therefore, it is this figure that we must use when we compare India’s defence spending with that of other countries.…

GDP Growth Mirror, Mirror on the wall

Having just returned from Italy meeting investors, academics and officials, I find the gulf between the foreigners’ perception of India’s economic story and that of domestic commentators most perplexing. Could it be that the latter are focusing excessively on the here and now, while foreign investors and domestic stock markets are looking more at what…

Prepare for along GST haul

Two incidents brought home to me that it is still a long haul ahead before the country has an efficiently operating Goods and Services Tax (GST). The first was the activeencouragement by a salesperson ina boutique furniture store tofinalise our purchase of a pair ofbeautiful reclining chairs, which wecould not afford, before the onsetof the…

The push Indian healthcare needs

Robust intellectual property rights regime holds the key to incentivising research on medicines One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) articulated by the United Nations in 2015 is to “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. India is among the countries that agreed to this sustainable development agenda. Governments, businesses…

Lohia and his ideology: Today’s political weapons?

In a bid to entice the economically and/or socially marginalised sections of society, political organisations in India are projecting themselves as champions of inclusive growth, democratic socialism and principled politics. These organisations have scrambled to embrace the remnants of Ram Manohar Lohia’s ideology, generously invoking the visionary thinker, when talking about the future of socialism,…

The glass is more than half-full

Rajiv Kumar on three years of Modi sarkar The Narendra Modi government has completed three rather breathless and turbulent years. So much seems to have changed, or has been in a flux. There is no separate railway budget anymore, with the Union Budget itself having been advanced by a month to February 1. The Reserve Bank of…