India's Modi is Not a Pro-Market Prime Minister
Anubhav Gupta on Bloomberg Daybreak Asia
ASPI Associate Director Anubhav Gupta appeared on Bloomberg Daybreak Asia to discuss India's general elections and the future of India’s economy.
Despite sitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s projected victory in the parliamentary elections, Gupta believes there is plenty still at stake. He clarifies that the margin by which Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win will determine whether they are able to enact the policies they want. If the BJP is able to secure a majority on its own, as it did in 2014, it would be a major victory for Modi.
Regarding whether to expect economic reforms from a second Modi term, Gupta warns against high expectations. He describes how as the elections approached, Modi and the BJP's inclination was “not to open up trade, not to open up the economy, but actually to focus on things like rural income guarantees, making sure people in rural areas have jobs, have subsidies…” According to Gupta, this reveals that the current government is not keen to adopt a market-oriented approach to policymaking. “This is not a pro-market Prime Minister that a lot of people thought we had in 2014,” states Gupta.