Run fast, to stay in place……

Run fast, to stay in place….

There was an interesting  article in the Financial Express of 17th April 2012 by Raghuram Rajan,Eric J Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the honorary economic advisor to the Prime Minister of India.

Here is the link to his article titled :” FDI is not an enemy, it is a necessity” :

Financial Express FDI

In response to the above article,I had written a Letter to the Editor expressing my views as under :

Dear Sir, This refers to Professor Raghuram Rajan’s article “FDI is not an enemy, it is a necessity” in FE of 17th April 2012.He has very rightly advocated the need for FDI, which, in a way, can be the life-line for the country’s future progress, if brought in, well in time. The task begun by Dr Manmohan Singh in 1991, by launching first generation reforms, needs to be logically followed up with the next generation of reforms, keeping aside petty political bickering and differences , so that the country’s economic revival efforts get under way without further delay. Most readers will agree with the learned Professor that India surely needs FDI, and needs it right away, when, the world has become and is becoming more competitive day by day. In the words of Philip Kotler, “today you have to run faster, to stay in place”. The main ingredients for revival are technology, expert man-power and of course, the most vital input…money. These have to be brought in at a much faster and bigger scale than in the recent past. FDI not only brings in money but also brings in expertise which is equally important. Many countries which were waiting for opening of gates for more FDI and were considering India as a vital destination for FDI, have of late, had second thoughts about it, mainly because of differences between various factions of the Government. That loss of confidence needs to be re-built and old beliefs and mentality that outside money will result in a sort of domination by outsiders, very much like the British in our past, need to be shed away forthwith, to build a modern and vibrant economy, in tune with the Globalization ideals. It is a well documented fact that unemployment as well as under-employment, are the key causes of  unrest in any country. These need to be tackled by going in for setting up massive bases for manufacturing goods and providing other services, which will create more employment for millions. To achieve this, FDI is needed in abundant measure. The Professor has very aptly summarized the importance of FDI and has, at the end, exhorted that we need to be really paranoid about sustaining our growth and only then we will realize the full promise and potential of Dr Manmohan Singh’s earlier reforms. Let us all get back to the vital task of rebuilding the economy. – J S BROCA, NEW DELHI

In today’s FE (1st May 2012) an edited version of my letter has been published as under :

Letters to the editor ,Tuesday, May 01, 2012 
Run fast, to stay in place  – Apropos of Prof Raghuram Rajan’s column “FDI is not an enemy, it is a necessity” (FE, April 17), the author has rightly advocated the need for FDI, which, in a way, can be the life-line for the country’s future progress, if brought in well in time. The task begun by Manmohan Singh in 1991 by launching first-generation reforms needs to be logically followed up with the next generation of reforms, keeping aside petty political bickering and differences. In the words of Philip Kotler, “Today you have to run faster to stay in place”. The main ingredients for revival are technology, expert manpower and, of course, money. FDI not only brings in money but also brings in expertise. Let us all get back to the vital task of rebuilding our economy. – JS Broca, New Delhi