India's growing at more than twice the speed of global economy, and doing better than any other large economy, but longer-term problems with country's statistical system & data base remain.
Demographic dividend can be exploited only if people are actually working, and if they have proper education & skills. India has fallen short on both counts.
It takes 8-10 years for a selection process to be carried through while the defence services wait. Indeed, in the end, there may be no acquisition at all.
The Vajpayee govt suppressed food prices and lost, while the first Manmohan Singh govt corrected that and was re-elected. It’s good politics and good economics.
IndiGo showed how a single point of failure can ripple across a sector. In defence, where there is no external fallback, the consequences are far more serious.
With the US-India trade deal yet to get done, rupee depreciation may be helping to mitigate India’s loss of competitiveness. The other problem is extreme despondence among overseas equity investors.
Of the total package, $649 million will be utilised for additional hardware, software, and support services, and the remaining for Major Defence Equipment (MDE).
Don’t blame misfortune. This is colossal incompetence and insensitivity. So bad, heads would have rolled even in the old PSU-era Indian Airlines and Air India.
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