The Modi government promulgated a Public Procurement (preference to ‘Make in India’) Order of 2017 which mandates that “each tender must be examined from the point of view of Indian manufacturers.”
It gives a straight (unconscionable?) 20 percent, yes t.w.e.n.t.y percent, price advantage to local manufacturers, damn efficiency and consumer interest! And if a foreign supplier still wins the bid, half of the order has to be given to an Indian manufacturer.
Back in the 1970s, India was starved of foreign exchange, so at least there was an excuse. Today, we are bulging with $400 billion, and yet our government has the medieval smarts to order its departments to willingly swallow this fly (a literal translation of that graphic Hindi phrase, makkhi dekh kay nigalna).
Modi was the great hope for all right-of-centre economic thinkers like me. He would slash government intervention, shrink the state and free up entrepreneurs.
Unfortunately, 43 months out, Modi’s government carries the opprobrium of being Big State. It’s getting bigger, more intrusive and most discretionary, with every passing day. Its motto can be restated as ‘maximum government, maximum economic statism.’
But since a new year is always a kindler of hope, can the Modi government imbibe the “spirit of 18” in 2018?
Can it still roll back the State and redeem quite a bit of its earlier promise, even if less than 18 months of its tenure are left?
I believe it can make a few key amends with just three new year resolutions. Read those three resolutions by Raghav here.
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