Saturday, February 22, 2014

UPA-II- tHE BIG iNFRA LET DOWN

The Vote on Account was a summary of an economy gone awry.Adamant inflation  managed to stun both the government and the RBI into a state of extended perplexity .Prolonged and elevated key rates have stifled growth and revenue. A recent study of a  some leading companies  in a spectrum of sectors, found that in FY 14 ,their summated gross debt as on Q3 FY 14 exceeds estimated total revenues FY 14 . Power, Infra and telcos come out the worst.It is a reflection on  the inter sector coordination / policy monitoring  gone awry, in a decent economy. Stasis  had followed in the aftermath of the  'spectrum   scam '  and the coal muddle .Structural drawbacks in the road infra projects ,in particular the overlap of accountability among Centre, State and oversight institutions ,became all the more acute as political will to take decisions faltered .In the paranoia induced by scams, the bureaucracy was loathe to take decisions.By the time the UPA-II recovered from its  administrative ennui, valuable time was lost. The damage done to the economy in the interim, spawned declining GDPs, vexatious CAD , a plunging rupee and  high  inflation.These ongoing fiscal and monetary anomalies across economies  are in part also due to  a wayward dollar and its profligate printer,the US. Some consolation that many Latin American countries are gasping  under 20 to 50 % inflation. Long gestation sectors entailing huge investments as power and infra, evidently lacked insightful follow up/ coordination /monitoring and  bold and determined piloting. In being remiss on this score, the UPA-II  induced a huge and on going  drag on the overall economy . This has dulled the shine on many of its  enviable welfare schemes .

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