View: Raise a glass to the job creators
Narendra Modi reiterated the need to encourage business and not demonise it. The PM's support is welcome. Post-Independence governments had a socialist mindset, leading to many perverse incentives and disincentives for India Inc. This narrative spread beyond political and bureaucratic circles to shapers of public opinion, mass media and popular culture.
Expectedly, businesses and livelihood creators responded to these disincentives by gaming the system. The licence raj was less about business excellence or competition, and more about how to manipulate licences and create monopolies. In that era, black marketing, hoarding and smuggling were common.
Low economic growth and insignificant job creation led to poor economic opportunities for the first post-1947 generation. They had to endure a 7-year wait for a scooter, and had to get permits for cement, steel and landline phones. The well-educated wanted their children and wards to get into top state jobs and the armed forces to escape this shortage economy.
Thankfully, liberalisation in the 1990s corrected that trajectory. However, real change happened when incentives were aligned with rapid growth of businesses and job creators. With more alignment of incentives, 'animal spirits' of enterprise and entrepreneurship grew. And, with it, large job creation and economic growth over the last three decades.
There's much more to be done to benefit people with low incomes. Indian businesses need to grow to become global champions. However, erstwhile large industry houses
