India Today Malayalam Magazine - March 28 2012

In this issue

Highlights of India Today Malayalam magazine dated March 28,2012.The Cover Story section on Indian Economy. A single Budget cannot solve the most serious problems of the Indian economy. From impressive 9 percent growth of the last few years, the Indian economy has slowed down to less than seven percent now and nothing less than a sustained and serious reform effort is necessary to lift India to the commanding heights of the past. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA\'s man with the political and economic Midas touch. More than 25 years ago, Euromoney magazine had nominated him as the Finance Minister of the Year. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass. Inflation remains a worry at am uncomfortably high 7 per cent.
Policy paralyisis and unending charges charges of corrpution during the last two years had led to Investor sentiment being suffocated. Ministers think thrice before taking decisions while the bureaucracy prefers to play it safe. In such a situation where key decisions are kept pending for long or sometimes even reversed, there is a real danger that the economy may get trapped in a middling growth trajectory of 6-7 per cent, instead of raising the bar to 9-10 per cent. The last time the economy frew at between 9 and 10 percent, the global economy was also on a high growth trajectory. But with much of the western world in the grip of near recession, things don’t appear rosy.