Big Business Attacks PM Modi For Being 'All Talk, No Action'

NEW DELHI: Branded as a government for the corporates, “suit-boot ki sarkar” as Congress scion Rahul Gandhi so pithily put it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now in the direct firing line of those he is perceived to present. Big business, including investors both Indian and foreign, admit to a certain disillusionment with PM Modi and a government that is sending out mixed signals, without action on the ground.

The Citizen had been amongst the first to report on the lukewarm US response to government initiatives just before the visit of President Barack to India. (http://www.thecitizen.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=2279&INDIA STILL TO SEDUCE U.S. BIG BUSINESS, CHINA REMAINS PREFERRED DESTINATION). Singapore based Jim Rogers, recognised as a commodities trading guru, has in interviews over April expressed his disillusionment with PM Modi going so far as to say, “Modi is all talk. no action.”

In one of the interviews Rogers says, “Yes, Modi tells a good story. He is doing all the right things, but so far there has been no real action. I hope I am early—I am beginning to wonder if he is for real. I hope I am the first to see if he is for real. If he is not for real, I hope to get out early—I don’t want to get out of India after everyone else has done it. Modi has done a few small things, but these small reforms have had very little impact on India’s economy. Toilets are good for people, but Modi has not done much to improve the overall economic standard of living, or done much for investors.” This comes after the first potshot at PM Modi by India’s very own HDFC chairman, 70 year old, Deepak Parekh. "After nine months, there is a little bit of impatience creeping in as to why no changes are happening and why this is taking so long having effect on the ground," Parekh told the news agencies. BJP leader Arun Shourie in an interview to Headlines Today pointed out that Parekh was a leading voice in industry, and that his words should be taken seriously by PM Modi.

The normally conservative Economic Times has now carried a detailed, almost a one page long report, of frustration and concern in the business community who find that their hopes in the Prime Minister are being dashed to the ground. The newspaper has recorded views also pointing at the Prime Ministers authoritarian and centralised style of functioning, that makes industrialists fearful of even talking over the telephone. Arun Shourie had said as much in his interview, elaborating on PM Modi’s complete reliance on the bureaucrats staffing his Office, and the over centralisation of governance whereby Ministers are unwilling to take decisions and all files are sent for clearance to the PMO. Sources said that the Prime Minister is himself not a “files person” with the result that these are piling up, with decisions delayed inordinately.

Large scale land, tax and labour reforms had been promised by the Prime Minister leading the corporates to root for him from the early days of his electoral campaign. In fact the lead in supporting PM Modi was taken by the big business that now finds itself almost on the other side of the fence. This despite the fact that the Opposition parties still look upon the Modi government as wedded to the corporates, with the Land Acquisition Bill that has resulted in a virtual deadlock in Parliament, becoming the central point of this argument that has galvanised farmers across the country into protest. As Rogers summed up, perhaps even for his Indian and other foreign counterparts, “but Modi has a very large majority, he has experience, he has the contacts, and if anybody could do something, it has to be him. If he can’t do it, then I don’t want to remain invested in India. If he can’t save India, no one else can. So I would want to sell.”

The fast growing disillusionment is palpable in business drawing rooms, with the conversation inevitably turning to the Prime Minister and his “disinterest” in activating his promises. Significantly the Economic Times has reported his tendency to distance himself from the industrialists, and frowning on Ministers if they tend to entertain them. Mukesh Ambani has interestingly been turned into a stereotype of big business by PM Modi whose references to the former have not exactly endeared him to the industrialists. "Our job is to run a policy-driven government. 'Red tape nahin hona chahiye. Ab red tape nahin hona chahiye matlab Mukesh Ambani ke liye red tape na ho aur ek common man ke liye red tape ho, waisa nahin chal sakta' (red tape should not be there does not mean it shouldn't be there for Mukesh Ambani, but be there for a common man; that won't do)", PM Modi had said in an interview to the Hindustan Times. And again more recently he spoke of housing, saying he was talking about the poor and not about Ambani, or words to that effect.

Shourie has recorded this in his interview, pointing towards the inability to take quick decisions on part of the government, and ease measures for investment and development. He spoke of a reluctance by PM Modi to consult experts, and rely extensively on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah.