Modinomics: Pros & cons of Narendra Modi's economic blueprint

One constant barb thrown at Narendra Modi, BJP’s candidate for prime minister, in the run-up to the general elections was that he lacked an economic vision.

As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi has earned high praise as a pro-business leader who swears by good governance and urban development.

But would these credentials pass the test of pugnacious politics and the sheer enormity of economic challenges nationally? Modi made amends by presenting an economic blueprint to a wash of applause by BJP workers last Sunday.

In many ways, Modi’s economic game plan is also a political masterstroke. He packed his speech with ambitious ideas — 100 new, socalled smart cities, linking India’s rivers, bullet trains — as is his wont.

He ticked almost every economic theme, making certain that no worthy constituency felt ignored. Infrastructure and urbanization? Check. Jobs? Check. Inflation? Check. Farm sector? Check. Politicians typically follow a familiar pattern in laying down their economic agenda.
Their action plans are attuned to populism, given that such shenanigans work wonders at the hustings. Modi, to his credit, did not succumb to that trick, despite this being election season. Modi proved that he is not every other politician.

But he steered clear of contentious and challenging subjects such as FDI and taxation. On critical issues like healthcare, he turned sloganeer rather than strategist.

In Modi’s defence, it could be argued that he was looking to create an economic blueprint that was inclusive rather than exhaustive.

For that reason, however, critics are partly right when they say Modi presented a political action plan instead of a true-blue economic blueprint.

That said, it is worth assessing his boldfaced ideas against India’s economic landscape. Are they actually the answer to India’s morass of troubles? How feasible are they? For each big idea that Modi presented last Sunday, ET Magazine assembled a panel of experts from the respective fields to carry out a critique. Here is what they came up with:

Infrastructure & urbanization: Bullet trains, linking rivers great ideas, new cities not so

Agriculture: Price fund alone won't help farmers

Modi's mammoth infrastructure ideas: Progress report on his pet projects in Gujarat

Black money: Look within than abroad for slush funds

Education: Quantity and quality are not contradictory objectives