We have yet another reason to thank our stars that social media and alternative sources of information have sprung up and grown stronger over the past few years. In the Indian context, that gives us freedom from the monopoly of Palazzo and Politburo narratives fed as “independent journalism” by the corrupt MSM elites. The freedom they recent every single moment of their wretched lives and try to subvert in every way possible. Even as they tried to recruit the likes of Cambridge Analytica to swing things in their favour.
I am talking about the recent wave of protests in China over the zero COVID policy of “our” Chairman. If not for social media, it would be blacked out. Total blackout is now impossible, precisely because we have alternatives, but then our comrade journalists do their best playing it down. As I write, the wave of protests appears to have simmered down.
Those of us old enough will remember the events of August 1991 when it appeared the hard-line Soviet communist group would oust Gorbachev and go back to its glory days. Stalinists and Moscow’s servants in India were celebrating with wild parties in Kolkata. And then Yeltsin happened. Rest is history.
Today similar celebrations must be breaking out in Lutyens and Mount Road as it appears Xi has won this round. One hopes that too would be short-lived. Although I am sceptical as the regime may survive for foreseeable future.
Be that as it may, the purpose of this article is not to predict events in China or discuss the obedience of our comrade left to despot demigods but to what India and Modi Sarkar can do to make sure the brief window of opportunity is used well. I am not claiming any credit for bringing up this topic as several have already spoken about it and written about it.
But here is my list of eleven things Modi government can do. Pun intended.
1. Fly under the radar
Make things happen at the state level. BJP rules enough states. Plus, there are non-hostile ones like Odisha. Get them to move. Modi should not underestimate the power of the left ecosystem to sabotage. They could survive Moscow’s fall although weakened. If Beijing falls, they are finished, they know it. It is much easier to do small bang than big bang that will see leftists hollering all the way from Lutyens to NYT Op-Ed pages. Remember land reforms? It is far easier to bring in 500 small factories than waste 30 years fighting for one POSCO.
2. Go East, young man!
Our media, both right and left, is obsessed with the West and what they say or write about us. We pop the champagne bottles when they praise and wring out hands and lash out when they critique. Third-rate academics are given star billing, whether they praise Modi or Aurangzeb. But all the action is to our East. The investments we need are in manufacturing that can get our farm labour productive and earn far more. Decisions about the next factory are taken in Hong Kong or Singapore, not Germany or Finland, even in Western companies. Because that’s where key executives and competition is. The dollars and jobs that don’t come here go to Vietnam or Indonesia, not Poland or Mexico. GOI should appoint business-savvy, eloquent babus, not file pushers and form fillers, as highly visible, dedicated Investment promotion officers in every embassy in the East. And hold them accountable for results. And praise, and reward them when they deliver.
3. Simplify tax and corporate compliance laws
This sounds like a clique, and many would say that is being done. Too little and too late. In fact, compared to 2014, in the name of cracking down on fraud, we have regressed. MCA, among others, has introduced form after form that serves no useful purpose. Electronic filing means nothing if that is simply an excuse to introduce more and more compliance. The nonsensical “COVID Compliance” form that was thankfully withdrawn after outcry is a symptom of the disease. This kills small businesses and disgusts big overseas investors. Many run a mile in tight shoes to Vietnam just to escape our babus. Believe me, I have not only seen this myself but heard this from responsible executives. Some have directly asked me – “Why is this so Mr Ganesh?”. They KNOW. Because they do the exact same business across the region and benchmark all the time. We must benchmark ourselves with ASEAN and get rid of forms, returns, paperwork and complexity that they don’t and we have.
4. Get rid of IAS, at least in economic, business related decision-making areas
Obviously I am not saying every babu is worthless. Many are stars. But it is fair to say on an overall basis, they have destroyed a lot more than they have created. We have talked for too long about outside talent etc. Our babus must run after industrialists and beg for job-creating investments, not the other way around, sit in Delhi and expect to be carried in palanquins. Because that is exactly what Chinese babus do. For that, we need people that have been there and done that, not lived their entire career in some dingy office doing unproductive paperwork.
5. Facilitate gig work – the world is the playground for our talented youth
Not everyone needs to work for Infosys or IBM. There’s enormous scope for gig work, be it design, IT development or even things like repairing costly watches or tailoring. Today compliance and tax navigation, customs and procedures are nightmares if you operate in India, especially if small. Our laws must make things simple and reward the ones bringing in money – not treat them like thieves and cheats. Why not say the first $50,000 of self-earned overseas income is tax-free? That will keep the Mallyas in check but help thousands of youth.
6. Watch the digital nomad space
Many countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia etc., are offering great incentives for high-tech digital nomads to move in. They offer long terms visas, cheap rentals, a great entertainment scene and cuisine, a beach lifestyle, safety and peace. Not medieval Talibanic prohibition and tax raids. I know it is much harder for India to mimic them. But watch the space and at least make sure we don’t lose even more tax, skills and revenue. This, in fact, reinforces what I said earlier – our competition is to our East.
7. Continue with PLI in even more areas
Forget what Raghuram Rajan says. Key factors of production – reliable power, logistics, land, and even labour in some cases, are super expensive in India. Fixing that is a multi-decade problem. In the meantime, we need incentives. When the jobs are here, factories are here, things will sort out and solutions will emerge. Until then PLI helps. Yes, we need more skilled labour, faster ports, engineers that are employable etc., but nothing stops us from working on that simultaneously.
8. We need #MakeInIndia for intellectual property
Software and the like. What have we done to help the likes of Zoho? Probably nothing. The next Google or Facebook can be from here. This takes time but we need baby steps. Embracing open source for government work, a free mobile operating system challenge (Elon wants it, China is doing it!), promoting capacity building and many other things can be done with small budgets. That will break the backs of monopolies like Google and Apple and force them to be reasonable. Plus make India a lightning rod for global talent, mindshare and venture capital. I know a lot is already being done but ye dil mange more. We can do it. We have the size and market that the Philippines or Indonesia lacks.
9. Ten forms or you are out
Every minister should ask each senior bureaucrat under him or her to come out with ten forms, returns or filings that they can abolish TODAY. Not after another commission studies it for another ten years. If they can’t find it, fire them. When the first ten is done, rinse and repeat. We have thousands, so it should keep them busy for months. For heaven’s sake don’t compare with the USA. They can build walls and people will jump over them. We need welcome mats for the industry.
10. Crowdsource law drafting
I am not talking about passing laws, that is Parliament’s privilege. But writing new laws. Our laws are written in horrible 19th-century English in the most complicated language imaginable. Our notifications and “clarifications” are worse. They create litigation, harassment, and corruption almost from day 1. Just a simple example: Do we need 3 pages of sections, sub-sections, proviso, “notwithstanding anything contained hereins” to decide who’s tax resident?! And our lordships write 600-page judgements in equally archaic language. We should write laws that are easy to understand. Why not have an open competition for a new Companies Act or IT Act in under 100 sections? I am sure Indians can do it much better than Singapore or Vietnam!
11. Vastly simplify GST
No, I am not repeating Rahul Gandhi’s nonsensical one-rate for Mercedes and milk idea. But rate slabs must reduce, and nothing needs to be outside of it. Compliance is still tough. I remember filling out the newly introduced Singapore GST form in the early 90s. Just three or four figures to fill out and that’s it! I know reforms are being attempted but giving it a big push will help. We must find ways to empower states in the taxation arena even as they surrender some level of control by signing up for GST. This will also create competition that spurs everyone on.
Let us hope we can ride this wave and not miss the boat like we did in 70s, 80s and even 90s.