/
•
•
Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
The NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission, has been reduced to a mere think tank whose officials act as mouthpieces of the government.
Editor's note: Two events over the past two months inspired me to pen this month’s newsletter. One, the NITI Aayog (NITI being the National Institution for Transforming India) received a new vice-chairperson and a new chief executive officer. Two, India celebrated 29 June as National Statistics Day. On this day, the nation saluted the contributions of Professor P.C. Mahalanobis to the fields of statistics and planning. Mahalanobis was a pioneering practitioner of planning in India and a member of the Planning Commission, which was disbanded by the Narendra Modi government in 2015 and replaced with the NITI Aayog. Seven years down the line, how do we assess this shift in policy? Any discussion on the demise of the Planning Commission and the establishment of the NITI Aayog cannot be divorced from history and politics. Historically, the Sangh Parivar was against economic planning and all forms of state intervention in the economy. From the time of Independence, they opposed planning as a “Western” idea and actively sided with the views of right-wing economists of the time. Two illustrations must suffice. One, the Sangh …
The country's fighter jet roadmap rests on imported propulsion, leaving its military plans hostage to cost shocks, delays and geopolitics.
Q3 disclosures show that India’s smart meter rollout has crossed a key threshold—moving from promise to shaping revenues, margins and strategy.
Fiscal discipline holds on paper, but the number is propped up by higher borrowing and revenue sources that are far from stable.
