What’s in Modi’s Budget for Indians? Precious Little
The love is for foreigners in a time of coronavirus, hiding the economic crisis that New Delhi won’t address.
Ask not what’s in it for you.
Photographer: Mohd Zakir/Hindustan Times/Getty
An all-out push to revive its sputtering economy is not within India’s reach. Instead of spending meager local resources to rebuild faltering demand, New Delhi is betting that world growth this year will be down in the dumps — and that will make India appear attractive to foreigners even when it really isn’t.
The budget unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government Saturday left virtually every domestic constituency unhappy. My interpretation? Luring overseas investors to high-yielding Indian assets amid a global coronavirus scare is the preferred strategy.