India fights Covid-19: an African perspective
By HE Grace Akello
Thepeople of India have been exhorted to rise above the doom and gloom of COVID-19 and rebuild their shattered economy. Prime Minister Modi made this call when launching a $266 billion post-corona economic recovery package on 12th May. Dubbed Resilient India, the package is aimed at regenerating the 520- million workers economy which had been ravaged by COVID-19. This economy of the second most populated country in the world,suffered a severe nose-dive to such an extent that people lost livelihoods,small firms were wiped out and there were fears of corporate bankruptcies. Modi rallied India defying coronavirus presence, saying it would not be allowed to consume his country or his people. He put on the table a five-pillar package targeted at the growth stimulators of land, labour, liquidity and legal frameworks.
Modi urged Indians to tighten their belts and engage in local economic production, along local value chains, to meet local demand for goods. He reassured the world that India would be pursuing a local agenda in her home industry in order to revive her economy and increase her self-reliance. India would not however, pursue exclusionary or isolationist self-reliance. On the contrary; she hoped to continue being one of the bigger players in global supply chains.
At the top of Resilient India economic recovery pillars is the pursuit of transformational rather than incremental growth in the economy. A state-of-the-art infrastructure would be an integral part of this economy, which will be powered by the Indian demographic dividend.Technology-based delivery systems are envisioned as the cornerstone of this economy. Resilient India would not only increase demand, but would improve all the supply chains. The economic recovery package by the Prime Minister thus answered the outcry over the economic effects of COVID-9 from Indian States governments.
These governments had called for support measures to save drowning MSMEs; and for cheaper and more accessible electric power. Shrill calls had also been heard from many states over the matter of interest rates. To revive the economy, the States had called on Government to effect measures to reduce the cost of money from local banks. This would enable MSMEs and other entrepreneurs to access loans with which to revive or expand their firms. Accordingly, Modi announced an economic recovery package which includes spending on the Central Bank, so as to enable the latter to effect liquidity to commercial banks.
With the focus on local manufacture, India is likely to continue attracting foreign direct investment to her home industries under the Make In India banner. But she is bound to increasingly look for investment finance from her own national savings too. Every rupee will count as India embarks on the economy of self-reliance.
While launching his Resilient India package,the Indian Prime Minister said that the COVID-19 crisis had brought a message to India. Contained in that message was an opportunity for India to rebuild her economy and make the 21st century, an India century. The crisis has drawn out a resilient India poised to build a resurgent multi-billion economy.The pace has been set by her Prime Minister. The economic recovery package tabled by India is as much an example to the rest of the world as the recovery packages of the United States, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Australia.
(HE Grace Akello is the High Commissioner of Uganda to India)
