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When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, he relied on three Indian academics who had worked primarily in the United States to pursue a liberal and globalized economic policy.
At least a dozen government officials, political advisers, and members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party told Reuters that much of the policy-making was done in the Modi office and in his own office. The departure of the three economists highlights the administration's rejection of free trade and open market approaches to the policy of protecting domestic industries and farmers, officials and academics said.
Modi's economic outlook is now a throwback to India's introverted policies of previous years, they said. And it seems similar to the agenda of US President Donald Trump to support the domestic industry, raise import tariffs and impose restrictions on foreign companies, they said.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance declined to comment. Raghuram Rajan, who was retained by Modi as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 2014, left at the end of his contract in 2016. He returned to the University of Chicago, where he is a teacher. 19659002] Arvind Panagariya, vice president of Niti Aayog, a think tank on government policy, resigned in 2017 when his sabbatical from Columbia University was exhausted.
And last month, Arvind Subramanian, former economic adviser of India. International Monetary Fund, announced that he would leave to spend more time with his family and in research and writing.
"We expect that with the release of Arvind Subramanian, the Modi government will listen to Ashwani Mahajan, leader of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, a nationalist group linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP de Modi
"The country would not lose anything if these foreign economists left the country, the country," he said. "India's problems had to be understood by the" land-related "advisers, he said, adding that development in domestic terms involved the provision of basic necessities, health, health, and the like. education, housing and housing The Manch is critical of the opening of the economy to foreign investors, and opposes government plans to privatize the loss-making airline Air India and the The acquisition of the e-commerce company Flipkart by Walmart (WMT.N).
The privatization of Air India was abandoned last month for lack of offers.The transaction Flipkart-Walmart is waiting for the Approval of India's anti-trust regulator amid strong protests against the acquisition by agencies representing small traders and BJP affiliated traders.
Subramanian did not respond to requests for comments on this story Panagariya and Rajan declined repeated requests for comment on the circumstances in which they left.
No Subramanian replacement has been announced until here, but in recent months, right-wing advisors, associated with RSS, are gaining more space in Rajan and Subramanian have advocated privatization state banks, reducing state subsidies and easing rules for foreigners entering the retail sector
Like many Western economists, Rajan and Subramanian advocated privatization of state-owned banks. . But most of these suggestions have not been implemented.
Panagariya promoted the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops in India, which has been strongly contested by many lawmakers of the BJP who claim that they pose a risk to the environment and to public health. Rajeun was replaced in 2016 by Urjit Patel, who has worked in Indian banks for two decades, and Panagariya by Rajiv Kumar, an economist who was based mainly in India, with the exception of a stay in the Asian Development Bank in Manila.
"Those who have networks in the system, those who understand the realities of the field, also know how to push them." But the others who come … helicopters from other places, these people, I'm afraid do not are not able to make the kind of change, "Kumar said during a televised interview in 2017 after taking control of Niti Aayog Sanjeev Kaushik, a senior finance official from the state of Kerala , who had previously worked at the Federal Ministry of Finance, said that policy makers needed to have experience in the field of finance or banking and not simple
"Our banking sector is suffering today because of insufficient knowledge of the operational consequences of regulatory action and the lack of a calibrated administrative response to a bad situation, "he said.
Kaushik refused to name whoever The officials of the ministries of finance, commerce, industry and agriculture said that unlike the previous government led by the economist Manmohan Singh, Modi had little patience for ". And they sought practical advice – mostly from a few local bureaucrats and economists.
They said that Modi has given bureaucrats in his office to push and monitor key policy issues, including rising import tariffs against US companies, drug price controls and "political bailouts". "for the agricultural sector.
Earlier this month, India announced the government-mandated price for summer crops such as rice and cotton by the most since Modi's coming to power.
"BACK TO PROTECTIONISM"
A senior official who worked with Subramanian stated that he was largely isolated by the Department of Finance However, Jaitley has been sick for several months and does not show up at the office then that he is recovering from a kidney transplant.
The official said that Subramanian was kept out of the loop. when Modi suddenly demonetized high-value bank notes in 2016, and the councilor's recommendation to privatize some state-owned banks was rejected.
"This government is not ready to listen to the independent voices and only want men as advisers," said the leader
which allows local politicians and lobbyists to push their agenda before the national elections.
Gopal Krishan Agarwal, BJP spokesman on economic affairs said the Modi government was consulting party advisers and the RSS for key initiatives, including the withdrawal of a bill on Acquisition and simplification of the goods and services tax. Farmers and small traders, the two most affected sections, are considered BJP political voting banks
"The government is now acting on the suggestions given by the party and the Sangh," said Agarwal. It is the political will of Prime Minister Modi, not the advice of consultants that drives Indian economic growth. "
The rating agencies have warned India of the risk of rising crude oil prices and a growing budget deficit – more than 6 percent of GDP collectively for the federal government and the government." But with nationalist advisers in the forefront, populist regimes will probably prevail, economists say.
"It's not so much the Subramanian as the return of some form of economic thought that guides our policy, "Yashwant Sinha, former BJP finance minister, said in a television interview shortly after the economic adviser's resignation.
" We return to protectionism in our own way. "
Source: Reuters (Reportage by Manoj Kumar, edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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