The Hoover Institution’s program on Strengthening US-India Relations is hosting a series of closed roundtables that attract selected leading experts on India. They are convened by David Mulford, who is a visiting distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution and was US ambassador to India from 2004 to 2009.
PARTICIPANTS:
Anusha Chari, professor in economics, adjunct professor of finance, and senior research fellow at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Sajjid Chinoy, chief India economist at J. P. Morgan and a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister of India.
Poonam Gupta, director general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (India).
Rathin Roy, the managing director for research and policy at ODI (Overseas Development Institute).
The discussion was moderated by Raghuram Rajan, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who served as the 23rd governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2013–16).
BRIEF SUMMARY:
Discussing the economic recovery of India, participants concentrated on four subtopics: the possibility of reforms that facilitate enterprise, encourage foreign direct investment and increase competitiveness (Chari), the outlook for growth and employment (Chinoy), monetary policy and inflation (Gupta), and the fiscal space, including the possibility of raising government revenues (Roy).
The discussion explored the challenges that the Government of India has faced in adopting pro-market reforms. On the whole, there seemed to be convergence among the participants and the fellows on the specific steps that needed to be taken (e.g., privatization, improving educational prospects, adopting new government accounting practices), but there was some skepticism that the Government of India would adopt such policies, at least in the immediate term.
