, Columnist
Modi’s Budget Has a Big Credibility Gap
India’s leader has correctly diagnosed what’s holding back GDP growth. The question is whether he’s willing to fix the problem.
Credibility challenged.
Photographer: Prakash Singh/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ten years after he was first elected India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi may finally have diagnosed why India’s growth, while better than in many countries, hasn’t taken off the way his supporters expected in 2014. But he still needs to prove he’s willing to do what it takes to fix the problem.
The federal budget that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced earlier this week will serve as the major economic policy roadmap for the year. It wisely focused on three issues: debt, factor markets including land and labor, and jobs. All are drags on growth.