FINAL WORD: Priorities of the New Government

The single largest democratic exercise in the history of the world, where 550 million people voted, culminated recently with an emphatic mandate in favour of a Narendra Modi led government. The euphoria surrounding this historic and overwhelming victory is now settling in. It is now time to focus on making a concerted effort to revive, revitalise and rejuvenate India. The Narendra Modi led NDA is saddled with aspirations and dreams of 125 crore Indians, and promises to leave no stone unturned, to ensure these hopes are suitably met.In the recent years, the Congress-led UPA government had come to characterise the anti-thesis of good governance. Corruption scandals of epic scale, emasculated public institutions and a decimated economy largely attributable to policy inaction and flip-flops have led India to the brink of an abyss. The evolved electorate of India unequivocally rejected this inept regime. And how!The responsibilities vested in us by the electorate are overwhelming, but it is also a historic opportunity to rewrite the India story and dramatically close the gap between where we are today and where we can be. The new government promises to bring with it some long overdue changes intended to fundamentally transform the Indian economy. The new government will have three priorities - all equally weighted on the scale of importance.Investment cycleKick-starting the investment cycle is crucial. Due to reasons mentioned above, capital formation in India has all but dried up. We will have to debottleneck the regulatory regime, say an unambiguous “no” to making retrospective amendments in the future and take giant strides in improving the ease of doing business via time-bound decision making and simpler processes. This will also help attract new investors - both domestic and foreign - into several sectors that are crucial to the India story, in particular, infrastructure.Domestic manufacturingAn impetus to domestic manufacturing is also vital. As wage costs in China continue to spiral out of control, India can become a natural venue for establishing a cost-competitive labour-intensive manufacturing base. I am confident that issues that impede the manufacturing sector such as logistical hurdles, circuitous laws and skill/productivity levels of our large workforce will be expeditiously addressed. The sector also opens up multiple avenues for foreign investments, particularly for technological upgradation and product modernisation.Social spendingEnsuring that social spending of the government is better targeted and leads to better outcomes and rapid improvement in the standard of living will be an immediate priority. Multiple initiatives will be launched to plug systemic inefficiencies and leakages endemic to the system. Technology will be leveraged to monitor the status of ongoing projects in a real-time basis and where necessary systems will be redesigned for better targeting and efficacious delivery.Addressing these basics (healthcare, sanitation, nutrition, education etc) will be crucial for the upliftment of millions of our citizenry living in abominable conditions. Facilitating a marked improvement in the standard of living of people and ensuring the teeming millions get out of the vicious “poverty trap” will be done on a war-footing.In summary, the Narendra Modi led regime will govern using the following guiding principles - “outcomes over outlays” (i.e. laser focus on results and not just spends), “minimum government, maximum governance” (i.e. a lean government that governs well) and “speed, skill and scale” (i.e. implementing programs expeditiously and at scale, while enhancing skill levels and productivity) to accomplish the goals set above.Shri Narendra Modi has been enunciating these principles in various public fora and he has demonstrated their strength through his successful track-record in office.

Piyush Goyal is a MP in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, and the new Minister of State for Power The above article was published in India Inc′s print edition of the India Investment Journal launched in June 2014 in conjunction with the India Inc Seminar: A new dawn for India - What does it mean for UK-India Business