Was it Chidu Who Messed Up the Economy?

Bangalore: Pranab Mukherjee deserves a pat on his shoulder for doing a good job in handling one of the worst periods in Indian economy. The Finance Ministry was already into a deep mess when Pranab took over the post, but the same situation will not be repeated for the next finance minister.

It will be unfair towards Pranab if we blame him as the sole reason behind India’s so-called messed up situation. Actually, the current crisis which India is facing today is all because of our previous Finance Minster. Being a highly acclaimed economist, P Chidambaram, failed to read a bubble and chased policies that inflated the economic bubble rather than pricking it. And poor Pranab had to bear the splashes of that burst.

The next FM, be it the PM himself or a non-politician economist, central banker or a bureaucrat, is receiving an economy that Pranab has been trying to set right. The FM will not have a difficult time as Pranab has already laid ground to formulate right policies which will help the economy to come back to even keel. Reducing fiscal and current account deficits, cutting down subsidies, keeping down inflation, improving governance and giving enough leeway to the RBI to act independently, are some of the policies taken up. Regrettably, Chidambaram failed to adopt the right policies, leading to India going back into time rather than going forward.