Singing Paeans to Capital

Nothing boosts the animal spirits of capital more than frothy stock markets. Unfortunately, the artificial surge in stocks, fuelled by the trillions of dollars pumped in by advanced country governments to combat the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, seems to have provided the Narendra Modi government adequate adrenaline to finally let go the veil of inclusive growth that it has hidden behind, and to openly embrace private capital. The Prime Minister’s recent speech in the Lok Sabha, singing paeans to private capital and dissing the bureaucrats who run public sector enterprises, less than a couple of weeks after the budget promised the corporate sector almost an unchallenged sway over the economy, is testimony to this.

But why has the government finally taken the risk to let go of the opportunity to ensure common good and openly cavort with the good of the private sector? The answers are many. But most probably, the National Democratic Alliance government realises it is running short of time to deliver any credible results on the economy before the next general election and seems to think that the corporate sector remains its only hope. And it would be unwise to read this as a knee-jerk reaction of the government due to the stalemate caused by farmers’ protests on farm laws. The move to embrace a corporate sector-led investment growth model has been clearly in the works for quite some time now.