PM Narendra Modi not as much of a reformer as he seems, says Economist

Top British weekly ' The Economist' has questioned Prime Minister Narendra's Modi's reform persona in its latest issue, saying he is "not as much of a reformer as he seems".

The article calls the reforms undertaken by Modi as "appearances" that are "deceiving" and that he has squandered a "golden opportunity" that the current global economy as well the country’s political situation provide.

The magazine also picked on the GST, which will be launched in week's time, calling it "unnecessarily complicated and bureaucratic, greatly reducing its efficiency".

The weekly's scathing critique comes days before Modi heads to US to firm up a bilateral partnership and further consolidate the robust and wide-ranging ties between New Delhi and Washington.

Along with the US, he will be travelling to Portugal and the Netherlands during the four-day visit beginning tomorrow. "My USA visit is aimed at deepening ties between our nations. Strong India-USA ties benefit our nations & the world," the prime minister tweeted.

The Economist was equally critical of demonetisation, calling it counterproductive, hamstringing legitimate businesses without doing much harm to illicit ones. "No wonder the economy is starting to drag. In the first three months of the year it grew at an annualised rate of 6.1%, more slowly than when Mr Modi came to power," the Economist said in the article.

The weekly, however, had some words of praise for the prime minister, saying he was more energetic than his predecessor, Manmohan Singh. "But he has not come up with many big new ideas of his own (the GST and the bankruptcy reforms date back long before his time)", it said.