Modi Cut India’s Red Tape. Now He Hopes to Win Votes for His Work.

Sometimes minorities are like American Blacks or European Jews, sometimes minorities are like Spanish Conquistadors and South African whites. Reality is that Christians and Muslims wish to maintain special imperial privileges gained under Mughals and British. Equality is the one thing the Old Gaurd cannot stand.

Modi Govt is institusanalizing so-called "pro business" practices that previously was considered corruption even in Indian standard. His administration is promoting few selected businesses houses, mainly from his home state and from his own "Lala" clan. That trend of putting cronies in crucial constitutional positions to promote his political and totally distorted version of Hinduism (termed "Hindutva"). It's known that growth in few macroeconomic parameters like GDP, oer capita income hardly reflect development of any soceity. Just check Modi's own Gujarat state which was ruled by Modi for many years and traditionally enjoys high GDP, per capita income. Yet Gujarat is among the least developed states in India, in terms of poverty (yes, poverty), hunger, education, slavery, condition of women and religious minorities in the society (most segregated state) etc. It's development is entirely restricted among the businessmen and elites and they control almost all of Indian media to propagate the myth of "vibrant Gujarat" and glorious days of ancient "Hindu" India.

The main problem in India is rampant corruption from top to bottom - pay at every stage to get work done. From article it looks, Modi Govt has successfully reduced the level of corruption, though success of its demonetization would be questionable, though some success in economic front. However, as many other pointed out, India is an extremely diversified country, different people have been living relatively in harmony since centuries , India have been a very liberal country otherwise how come people with divergent philosophical view survived, named it - Guru Nanak, Kabir, Gautam Budha, Mahavira, Shankar, many more. There are many Muslim sects - Shia, Suni, Ismalies and more , and are many Christian sects -six States in India have Christian majority. India's future lies in liberal policies, and where Modi Govt totally failed, rather suppressed liberalism, lynching because of cow slaughtering/death, such heinous crime was never heard before Modi Govt in power. Currently they are largely exploiting Hindu sentiments to win election rather than their achievements during their 5 years of regime, and created false illusion that India is a Hindu Country, and other minorities to follow their beliefs. I hope if they come back into the power, they will pay attention on social harmony, and punish them who spread hate - I think spreading hate across the different sections of the society is the biggest crime which nullifies one's all achievements in other fronts.

GST, General Sales Tax, was initiated by the congress party. However, BJP opposed it vigorously. It couldn't be implemented. After coming to power BJP adopted it but implemented it poorly. Small businesses hate it because it requires filing umpteenth reports every months. They don't have resources. Modi has trashed democracy and rule of law. He has centralized decision making in his office, put BJP or ones sympathetic to it in institutions. He let go two very capable governors of the central bank. CBI, a respected investigative agency, has been undermined by Mr. Modi putting his own man who got into conflict with other sernior officers. They were replaced. Agency's name lack respect. Supreme court justice, Kutial Joseph , accused now retired Chief justice, Deepak Mishra, being on remote control.Worse, he has let the mob take law into its hand, killing any muslim seen with the cow, protesting the arrest of hindu men accused of raping and killing 8 year old girl in Kashmir. Free speech has been undermined. Journalists and writers of liberal leanings receive death threats and sometime murdered. Fake statistics show India growing fast but unemployment also reaching the highest level in 45 years. Young people with degrees can't find jobs. Farmers are in distress and commiting suicides. Mr. Modi is not campaigning on his accomplishments on economy or corruption but as a security hawk who bloodied Pakistan in Balakot.

First paragraph: “A jeans maker saw his delivery costs cut by half when highway police stopped asking for bribes. An aluminum wire factory faced only three inspectors rather than 12 to keep its licenses. Big companies like Corning, the American fiber-optic cable business, found they could wield a new bankruptcy law to demand customers pay overdue bills.“ Not one of those is an example of red tape. And the bankruptcy law could certainly be used by the likes of Corning to harass truly bankrupt companies. Submitted May 14th 2:02 Eastern

I've reported on the impact on the Goods and Services Tax had on small businesses as it was being rolled out in India. This story misses a lot of details. The cost of doing business with this new tax has certainly not dropped for a vast majority of businesses in India. The cost of compliance - filing monthly/quarterly returns rather than yearly - has risen so much that many businesses are struggling to keep up. Besides, a major problem right now is the credit crunch going on India, which is squeezing working capital supply for these businesses. GST refunds are routinely held up which makes that situation worse. And so, Mehta Creations and the unnamed restaurant may be paying fewer bribes, but their debt/equity ratios are stretched to the limit. That's the true picture of the ease of doing business in India right now. The story also did not specify that the Mr. Modi initially always said 'demonetization' was a way to root out so-called black money - hoards of cash that have had no tax paid on them. It's only when the government realized that the policy was a disaster that the government switched its narrative to 'digitizing' the economy or whatever they called it.

I hope Congress doesn’t win. Rahul represents a dynasty, and the corruption that goes with it. The British, especially Cornwallis, introduced corruption in India, which Congress, as their progeny, continued with. Now that the Hindus, who were systematically splintered by the British, are uniting, India has a future. Modi must win, it is the only chance India has to get rid of the cancerous corruption.

Life for over 1 billion Indians is pure misery. Horrifying health conditions of contaminated and disease bearing water, air and food. Hardly any treated water or sewage. Most live in shacks or overcrowded, unsafe housing. Highest disease rates in the world. Most polluted air in the world. Factories and pharmaceutical industry dump untreated toxic and biohazard wastes. The Hindu caste system locks hundreds of millions into lives of servitude and limited options. The rich use their surrogates to whip up Hindutva hatreds against Muslims as a divide and rule pillar of class rule. But hey Modi's BJP want to build a third aircraft carrier, and conquer the moon, while the middle class sips Starbucks, and play on their phones. (Don't mind the homeless) What progress!

Fanaticism is not without cost. Modi and his party allies have systematically dismantled India’s leather business, which disproportionately employed Muslims, under communal/religious pretexts. India’s leather industry was the world’s second largest. It exported quality material for Western and Japanese car interiors. Under Modi’s rule already low public education, healthcare and welfare spending were further reduced. Such spending has been found to be the best predictor of economic development over the long term. Wealthy Indian plutocrats were simultaneously enriched through easy loans from government owned banks, the cheap or free transfer of state owned property, skewed policies and sweet-heart deals. Privatization that harms the masses is corruption worse than petty bribery. This is just a tiny fragment of Modi’s grand legacy of corruption, bigotry and cronyism.

The comment of the businessesman at at the end of the article put a damper on an otherwise hopeful article. Why does he have to settle for the "package deal?" It is shameful that he is willing to put up with sectarian violence. Is it because he is not a member of the minority? India was never supposed to put up with such an attitude. It is a serious failing on Modi's part if he doesn't speak out and act more forcefully on religious zealotry. India doesn't have to put up with it for economic growth.

I recently returned from Delhi, and was taken with the transformation of Rahul Gandhi. He seems to have acquired a certain political energy and charisma, and I wouldn’t rule out an upset by Congress. But whatever the outcome, I think the BJP will be weakened. It’s passive acquiesce to the ugly violence of its extremist nationalistic factions, especially RSS, has sickened and angered most of the middle- and upper-class people I know there.

It is the election between Modi Vs Rahul Gandhi Modi has been trying to become more popular through Digital Marketing and Desh Bhakti. Rahul Gandhi has to prove himself. He shows himself is a leader of Poor Population. Everyone has been waiting for 23rd May 2019 to watch final result.

A balanced article. There is no doubt that Modi has accelerated the reforms initiated by Sardar Manmohan Singh in the 1990's. There is also no doubt that Singh's watch was tainted by members of his corrupt octogenarian Congress party. Eventually, both sides will want to claim credit for any good, promptly disassociating themselves from any blame. Eventually India will have to answer the painful question of whether we prefer fascism or a vibrant pluralistic society, inclusive of all minorities. Modi is a fascist, the likes of who would be comfortable in the company of Orban and Trump. Is that what we want to become as a bargain for coin?

It's comical to see Americans so fixated on the "threat" from China when it's so obviously India that will end up burying us. As everyone knows, there could be no Silicon Valley without brilliant Indians. Indians seem to be the Hungarians of Asia, i.e., the people with huge genetic advantages in higher math and IT. India already has graduate education in tech that matches anything at MIT or Stanford. But, of course, the real bottom line is that India has more than four times the number of geniuses in IT America has. Goldman projects that India's GDP will tie America's by 2050. After that, for the rest of history, India's economy will be looking at America as a shrinking image in their rearview mirror. By what possible logic will India not OWN Silicon Valley by the end of this century? And, of course, India doesn't have China's terrible demographic problem. India's population will dwarf China's by mid-century, and it's already twice as populous as the Americans and Europe put together. There IS no other India on earth to ever rival it, once it becomes the hegemonies. The human future is not just Asian, as any intelligent person takes for granted. It's Indian.

Any national leader would be wise to keep Walmart and Amazon out of their country. Look what they have done for the businesses in the USA. They have taken over and put local business out of business. Walmart's aggressive expansion has transformed the business community in hundreds, if not thousands, of small towns by putting small stores out of business, causing the town square to become a series of dilapidated vacant buildings. Amazon put entire shopping malls out of business. What's a bookstore, Mommy? That erodes the sales tax income for communities and puts people out of work. Shopping malls are dead in the USA, but not in Asian countries. They are vibrant places of community activity and money making. Meanwhile, Amazon.com hasn't paid taxes for two years and Bezos is building a rocket ship to go to the moon.

If he hadn't spent all that money on bribes he might have bought automated machines to sew his jeans. His factory is already obsolete. There are dedicated machines that sew the buttonholes, another for the buttons, another for the belt loops, and another to sew on the patch pockets, all automatically. They aren't that expensive and one machine can process thousands of garments a day. They don't need to take breaks or call in sick or stop to have a baby. They need an operator that can be trained quickly to place the fabric in a jig and push the button. The garment is better constructed and the operators don't get repetitive motion injuries.

Indians are tired of socialism after 60 year rule by the same party/same family (Congress/Nehru family) and their liberal/secular identity politics. Basically, Indians have realised economic justice is the foundation of all social justice. And socialism does not render economic justice. Thanks NY Times for looking at both sides of an equation.

India should jump in and start making things that China now exports to the US. But where will India find people who speak English, to allow a smooth transition? They could employ some of the telemarketers who work in call centers in India.

Modi and his right wing political party are fielding a candidate who is responsible for a bomb blast which killed Muslims. Let that sink in. The Prime Minister of India supports people who engage in murder of minorities. Don't let incremental improvements in the way business is done change your point of view on Modi and his team of Hindu terrorists.

Let’s see... so Modi’s strategy is to cut red tape, talk religious nonsense, and target vulnerable minorities by convincing the majority of its own victimhood and impending demographic replacement? Fascism is like kitsch poetry — it always rhymes.

but if Indian engineers don't move here because of their improved economy, Google, Facebook and Amazon might have to raise wages.

Voters are always impatient for desired reforms, and then even more impatient that major reform takes time and involves many false turns. Democracy has its flaws, of course, but the main flaw is our nature as a species to always underestimate the difficulty of someone else's job and our easy influence by means of gossip- that is negative propaganda perpetuated by those that seek to undermine leadership so they can assume it. Obama's herculean effort to pass universal healthcare is a prime example- he had to make many compromises just to get all Democrats and the infamous Lieberman on board. Then intense criticism from the left and the right (along with the power of the right wing donor base), crippled the next 6 years of his presidency. What a waste. I hope Indian voters make the best choice for their people- there's even more at stake there than here, partially because so many lives are at stake.

Facts are facts. Mr Modi has presided over the fasting growing large economy with an average growth rate of 7% in the last 5 years-this has outpaced China in the last two. Foreign investment in India is at an all time high and he has cut the "red-tape-Raj" substantially. His goverment's policies, which have been tough at times and perhaps not well rolled out, have benefited the Indian economy. By making a uniform tax code and making everyone- including the super rich- pay their fair share of taxes he has substantially increased revenue for government spending on the thing India needs most- jobs. Demonitization certainly hurt but brought in a substantial- though less than expected- amount of revenue back to the government. Taxes were collected in a country where people are not used to paying them. This in an of itself is a miracle.

Some of the reforms mentioned in this article, like abolition of Octroi and GST had been spearheaded by the previous UPA govt. Modi's BJP, while in Opposition, fought them tooth and nail but once in power not only facilitated the reforms but also have claimed credit for them. Both Congress and BJP have now realized that Indian voters want concrete actions and policies that will help to improve their incomes and make life easier. The voters are no longer willing to be good children to a benevolent "mai-baap" (paternatalistic) govt. However all govts fall short of the expectations of the voters. The two political parties use different tactics to distract voters from their shortcomings. Congress resorts to poor-pleasing gimmicks as free this and subsidized that. But BJP falls back on hateful, divisive, hyper-nationalistic rhetoric that leads to riots, lynchings and a sense of fear and insecurity among the minorities, particularly Muslims. That is why BJP is dangerous for India and the world as poison spreads.

Amazing to see a positive depiction of any aspect of the Modi government in the pages of NYT! The GST scheme has been very effective in bringing in more taxpayers into the tax net, but just like the Obamacare implementation in a developed country like the US, the implementation has been chaotic, probably because of arcane government rules on how to contract work out to private companies. That doesnt mean the scheme itself was bad. Demonization was also a good idea to bring out the unaccounted money into the open, but the suddenness of the announcement, the lack of preparation before implementing it and giving too much freedom to bank officials in converting old notes was its undoing. I, for one, am inclined to agree with the sentiment that changes of the magnitude of GST, take a few years to yield positive returns for the economy. Good job covering this NYT!

Mr. Modi is the only real hope India has. Under 60 years of Congress rule India suffered through corruption, bad econmic and forigen policy decisions. Beginging with Nehru and endinhgh with ManMohan Singh Congress has wrecked India. The biggest single step to help India was demonitization and getting rid a large amounts of unaccoumnted cash. To the people claim that demonitizatoon was bad - these are the people who had billions of rupes in cash. They lost it and of course they are mad. The common man on the street is not affected by this and is happy that the people who cheat are paying the price. The next set of people who are very upset are the ones who used to receive millions of dollars from forigen fopundations. Most of these NGO's could not account how they spent this money, Clearly these people where not using tje money for anything good. The Modi government shut them down and they are upset. Who cares? Not the common man. These just two examples of how well the Modi Govenment has helped make things better. Yes it is still work in progress. Corruption was and is the hallmark of Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi and the entire Gandhi family. If they win India will be destroyed.

This article talks about reduction in red tape, elimination or reduction of octroi tax on movement of goods thus eliminating or reducing bribery. What article does not mention is shakedown of businesses by gangs of Hindu nationalists such as Bajrang Dal who have replaced government officials collecting octroi tax. This has become standard practice in BJP ruled states. Many shop-owners too have to pay protection money. Corruption in state and local government offices is rampant in BJP ruled states. It is difficult to collect what the government owes you without giving certain percentage of what you are entitled to. Requesting copies of property records requires paying bribes. Gangs engaged in illicit businesses operate freely under protection of ministers and senior police officers.

It's hard to take an article like this seriously when it does not mention the biggest change in the way of doing business in India which is the GST and looking at the number of times it has been revised, things haven't been going smoothly. Demonetization is mentioned in passing, it was a gigantic self inflicted wound against the advise of every economist. Another thing not mentioned is the change in methodology of calculating GDP growth to hide how badly the economy is actually doing. Also smoothed over are the unemployment numbers, they are at a 45 year high. Yes it may be easier to do business in India but while businesses may be doing slightly better the major sources of employment(in order): ->Farming ->Unorganized sector ->Organized sector are doing much much worse

Wow I am so shocked to see positive story about Modi by NYT. I was hoping someone to cover this aspect of Modi government. But everyone is fixated on Hindu nationalism. Which Modi hardly spoke about. Modi tried to reduce red tape in many aspects of the life. For eg my parents in India had to prove that they’re alive to get pension. This had to be done every 6 months at the bank. Also, you can’t go to any bank. You’ve to go to a specific branch. That required 60-70 km of travel on rural roads which takes about 2-3 hours. In last 2 years Indian govt rolled out a service to prove that you’re alive using AADHAR. But it last 3 months no one talked about stories like this. Everyone Including NYT was so fixated on Hindu nationalism. But I’m glad finally NYT could find some positives of last 5 years. Well Done NYT! So proud of you! Hopefully you’ll find one positive story about Trump too!

Good to see a positive article on Modi in the Times. He is an advocate of free enterprise, and that drives his economic policies. Modi tolerates some extremism of nationalist Hindus, but he is not overtly bigot as Trump. Considering the alternative Modi is not a bad choice.

As an Indian citizen, I need to point out the following missteps by Modi on the economic front: - Demonetization destroyed a lot of informal sector jobs. Majority of the jobs created after economic liberalization of 1991 were in the informal sector. One of the few tangible ‘benefits’ of demonetization was that opposition political parties were without cash in the short term. - Modi government has had a huge problem of attrition with economic experts such as Dr Raghuram Rajan leaving their roles prematurely. It’s no secret that Modi doesn’t understand economics, but he isn’t willing to heed the advise of experts either, especially western-educated ones. - Modi government has suppressed unemployment numbers, so it’s not possible to assess the damage caused by his policies such as demonetization and ham-handed implantation of the Goods and Services Tax. - Modi government has focused mainly on the reforms which improve World Bank Ease of doing Business rankings, which doesn’t necessarily improve ease of doing business for the average Indian entrepreneur. - GDP numbers have been massaged to look as though GDP growth is higher. Modi government hasn’t addressed the income inequality that has accompanied the GDP growth has happened so far. - India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, is not being allowed to function with the autonomy that it got under previous governments. - Modi hasn’t answered unscripted questions or give press conferences during his tenure as PM

India is open for business for who? American corporations like Corning? Looks like a place to me that US corporations would LOVE to do business with. A motivated, poor workforce that will accept anything to get themselves out of poverty. But that won't happen because those US corporations are too patriotic and have amazing allegiance to American workers. Don't they? Just ask Ivanka. And Trump. After all, he is looking to build properties all over the US, oops, all over the world outside the US. They backed out of that affordable hotel effort in the US, I believe. After all the first place they look for workers is overseas.