Quite possibly, the huge tranches of stimulus measures announced by the Centre to help the nation overcome the Covid-linked lockdown would be more of a lure now to those who are waiting in the wings to make a killing out of this. The Government is making the terms liberal for small and medium industries to avail loans to boost production and create more job opportunities for the youths, but what cannot escape attention is that this is a risky exercise.
The corrupt elements have such a sway over governmental mechanisms today that large chunks of the money might not necessarily go into the right hands. Non-Performing Assets of the public sector banks in India, which had advanced huge loans to business, were of the order of Rs 10 lakh crore a while ago, and the Modi Government’s so-called attempts to get the money back into the bank coffers made little progress. Many of these borrowers who have the means to pay but would not, have allegedly funneled the loan amounts to tax havens abroad, and the Government will have little reach over them. The money that the Government is promising to give the MSME sector by way of stimulus might also end up in wrong hands.
Notably, the Government is up for big games. The coal sector will be privatized and a profit sharing mechanism evolved between the government and private parties. Nothing goes to show this will help get money to the exchequer. The corrupt system will have the last laugh and smart men would make hay while the sun shines. Indira Gandhi had, in order to prove her socialist credentials, nationalized coal mines in the early 1970s. Finally, what came out of it is well-known. Coal blocks were auctioned to private parties at cheap rates, and many influential entities in government made money for themselves. The coal scam cases are ongoing, and might end up in naught.
The Government has also announced plans to raise FDI in defence production units to 74 per cent from the present 49 per cent. The idea could be to make India a production hub for armaments, but how many would bite the bullet is worth a watch. India, a democracy, does not have a one-point-contact to give the last word; governments change with seasons, and so do leaderships; courts take their sweet time to consider cases and give the final verdict. This is unlike China, where there are no multiple power centres. With new stimulus steps, India’s corrupt system will now have the last laugh.