‘Anti-Minority’ tag will hurt Bharat’s Economy, warns Raghuram Rajan – A Fact Check

Former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan is known for his outlandish observations and utopian theories. He keeps on coining new perspectives about the Bharatiya economy, which are mostly negative and non-existent. This time he came up with another outrageous theory. He said that an ‘anti-minority‘ image for Bharat can lead to a loss of market for Bharatiya products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner.

Raghuram Rajan, who is currently working as a professor at Chicago’s Booth School of Business said that Bharat has entered into the perception battle from a position of strength. It is alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is “ours to lose”. Rajan’s comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several illegal structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighborhood was rocked by communal violence.

He further added that it is not just consumers who make such choices over whom to patronize, but warmth in international relations is also decided by such perceptions, as governments take a call on whether a country is a “reliable partner” or not, based on how it handles its minorities.

Well, Raghuram Rajan is believed to be an accomplished economist, he has been the Chief Economist of IMF and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and nobody can question his credentials. However, the theory that he has given this time has many loopholes. It is highly regrettable that Rajan is leaving no opportunity to demean Bharat’s growth story. Hence we have decided to rebut his theory point-wise.

Recently, Japan has signed up to invest $42 Billion in the next 5 years. Bharat has already signed free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia and it is all set to double trade in the next 5 yrs. A similar FTA was signed with the UAE government, while another FTA will be signed with the United Kingdom before Diwali this year. In a recent visit, the president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen has also expressed interest in signing an FTA with the Bharatiya Government to give a massive boost to the trade between Bharat and European Union.

Bharat has signed multiple technology agreements with the USA in areas ranging from space, defense, sea exploration, and many more. Bharat’s economy is set to grow between 8 to 9 percent this year. Hence, forget losing, Bharat is set to gain market in the coming years. This also proves that Raghuram Rajan’s ‘anti-minority’ tirade is just a canard to create a negative environment and pull Bharat down. However, the world looks at Bharat from a different point of view, and that is reflected in back-to-back FTAs and other agreements.

Raghuram Rajan also said that Bharat should focus only on services and not on manufacturing. However, if we assess the data and activities going on in the nation, it seems this is another lie he has peddled.

The fact of the matter is that Bharat’s record exports were led by engineering and manufacturing goods. If we talk about Smartphone exports, it has been rising and is currently at Rs. 42000 crores from a paltry Rs. 1300 Crores in 2017-18.

Modi government’s Production linked incentives (PLI) schemes for 14 manufacturing sectors drew unprecedented investments worth 2.34 lakh crores, expected to give an additional output of Rs. 28.15 lakh crores in the next 5 years while adding 6.45 million new jobs. Hence, we can say that not just services but the manufacturing sector too is producing stellar results.

Rajan further opined that Bharat’s administration is grappling with several challenges in governance, and this could be counterproductive in long run. However, here again, he is lying and creating a perception that the Bharatiya Government is unable to show good governance, which may impact Bharat’s growth story in the future.

The fact is, that Direct taxes grew at a record 37%, the first time since 1947 beating estimates. The GST collections for March are over 1.3 lakh crores and it is consistently growing from less than a lakh crore last year. Can this be done without an effective governance and compliance system in place?

The IMF data says that Bharat has almost eradicated extreme poverty during COVID time. IMF has wholeheartedly credited Modi Government’s policies & implementation at a fragile time when almost every nation was struggling and economies were going downwards.

Not many people know that Bharat is only second to the USA and ahead of China on the number of most emerging Unicorns. Here it is important to know that Unicorn is the term used in the venture capital industry to describe a startup company with a value of over $1 billion. Bharat has World’s 3rd largest Startup ecosystem, and the number of startups is growing with each passing day. All the above would not be possible without good governance.

So it is obvious from the above facts that Raghuram Rajan’s baseless criticism seems to be a result of his political leanings. Bharat is growing due to its free democratic model, a robust government in the center, and the contribution of every citizen. It is really sad that Raghuram Rajan is acting as a handmaiden of forces inimical to the interest of Bharat.