New govt lost the moment, feels economist Bibek Debroy

New Delhi, Aug 13: Economist Bibek Debroy, who recently co-authored a book laying down a reform agenda that Prime Minister

launched himself in June soon after coming to power, expressed dissatisfaction with the new government's progress in areas of reforms. According to a

, Debroy said the momentum had been lost and although the new government might recover it but the moment had already been lost.

He said that there had been no signs of the institutional changes that had been promised.

Modi had promised sweeping economic reforms to bring the country's progress back on the track but according to some economists and business leaders, Modi's government hasn't done much but reverted to the script of the UPA government which he defeated in the April-May general election.

According to economists at HSBC, the Modi government has already made moves with "unaccustomed alacrity" on a number of issues like opening up the state railways to foreign investment and providing new guidelines for a more streamlined bureaucracy. "But the stuff that will lift economic growth over time ... requires deft and delicate handling," they said after taking note of the resistance which is coming from the states and also the government's problems in pushing legislation through the upper house of parliament because of numerical weakness.

The new govt should not imitate policies of the last one, said another economist

Modi and his campaign agents had lambasted the last Congress-led government for leading to a policy paralysis and preached the mantra of "minimum government and maximum governance" to free the key sectors of the economy from over-regulation.

Another economist Surjit Bhalla said Modi, with the massive mandate that he had in the election, should concentrate on formulating policy with conviction and not imitate tactics of a defunct government.

Another economist from Columbia University Jagdish Bhagwati, who had earlier lauded Modi's rise as a turning point for India, was yet to find a role in the new prime minister's team despite expecting a place in an external council to advise him. According to the Reuters report, Bhagwati declined to speak on the government's performance since May 26 when it took over but had expressed mixed reactions on the Modi's first three months in an email.

American real estate mogul Donald Trump, however, felt that India has become a better place after the general polls.

Oneindia News