Notwithstanding the childish jibe by Rahul Gandhi after the prime minister’s keynote address to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos, the reception at home and abroad was generally positive. The global corporate leaders assembled in Davos welcomed the address, giving Modi a standing ovation. He flagged the right concerns, that is, growing protectionism, specter of terrorism and a looming threat of global warming. It was a statesmanlike intervention, something the Office of Rahul Gandhi, which apparently tweets on behalf of the Congress President, failed to appreciate. Asking the prime minister, “when is the black money coming from Switzerland?” can only elicit an equally immature counter: “Why did you send it there in the first place when you were in power?” Let us not dilate further on such frivolous matters. That the Chinese have publicly welcomed the PM’s message in Davos is significant. It underlines the commonality of approach in vital respects between the two Asian powers.
Last year, it was the Chinese President Xi Jinping who had delivered the keynote address at Davos, defending globalisation and flagging global warming as major threats. In the wake of President Trump’s repudiation of these growing challenges, the Chinese leader was eager to step in the space vacated by the US. India, too, was ready to play its rightful role. The Indian Prime Minister explicitly reposed faith in multilateral solutions to the world’s ills, pointedly rejecting that tariff barriers and other such impediments would serve national interest. The prime minister was keen to project India as a welcoming destination for global businesses. The climate for both foreign investment had vastly improved. The ease-of-doing-business indicators confirmed that the Government was keen to lay the red carpet for foreign investors. Yes, terrorism was a problem. But, this was a global problem and the world should unite to fight this menace. Of course, Modi’s address was aimed as much at the foreign as it was aimed at the domestic audiences. For India to emerge as the undisputed number one destination for foreign investors, it is important for it to set its own house in order, have a semblance of law and order, a solid legal framework for dispute resolution and arbitration and a red-tape free bureaucracy.
We still have to go some distance to achieve these minimal standards. Yet, as the biggest emerging market with a thriving democratic system, India offers an unparalleled opportunity for foreign investors. Very often the optics mar the India story. Unless we correct that global impression, improvements in the ease-of-doing-business parameters may not be enough to bring in the foreign billions. Global governance standards eventually will attract global funds to India.
